CPEC has strengthened Pakistan’s position in the region with road network: NHA

Gwadar Pro

Lahore: Pakistan would further move towards economic progress and prosperity as the country’s position has strengthened in the region after the launch of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) road network, a senior official of the Pakistani National Highway Authority (NHA) said.

NHA Member Central Zone Lahore Abdul Rauf Sheikh informed that Pakistani Rs 53,484.49 million would be spent on maintenance of roads in year 2021-2022 throughout the country.

He was addressing the NHA stakeholders conference here to discuss the NHA Annual Maintenance Plan 2021-2022.

Sheikh mentioned the role of CPEC in improving Pakistani road network. “Pakistan would further move towards economic progress and prosperity as the country’s position has strengthened in the region after the launch of CPEC road network. The NHA is achieving targets of economic growth through effective communication means,” he added.

He underlined that besides up-gradation of existing road infrastructure, expansion in national trade corridor and a number of other initiatives were being taken to construct new roads.

“The NHA under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan is working for construction and expansion of roads. Around 85 percent of trade depended on road infrastructure in the country so the NHA has reserved Rs 53,484.49 million for construction and expansion of road network while a huge amount has also been reserved for repair, renovation and rehabilitation work of existing roads,” he contended.

Sheikh maintained that Pakistan wanted to ensure road corridor for neighboring countries for promoting trade to Central Asian countries, adding that neighboring countries also wanted to access or get benefited from Pakistan’s road network.

“Due to the efforts of NHA in road infrastructure, the travel time from one corner of the country to another has been reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours which also helped flourishing the tourism,” he stated.

The NHA official underscored that the project was being prioritised through consultation with stakeholders, adding the expected revenue through different sources was Rs 47,136.11 million.

On this occasion, General Manager (Maintenance) Punjab-North NHA, Lahore Iftikhar Sajid updated that in 2021-2022 spending as annual maintenance plan had been Rs 5,330.00 million.

General Manager Khyber Pakhtunkhaw Zulfiqar Ali Janjua told the event that the provincial office had proposed Rs 3,232.97 million maintenance plan 2021-2022. General Manager Gilgit-Baltistan Mehboob said spending as annual maintenance plan 2021-2022 stood at Rs 217.38 million.

GM (Punjab-South) NHA shared that Multan spending was recorded at Rs 6,249.29 million for annual maintenance plan 2021-2022.

Representatives of transport associations, gas station representatives, National Highway and Motorway Police and general public were also present.