The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Saturday awarded three contracts worth $261 million to Hussnain Cotex Limited, M Ayub Limited and Caster International for expansion, surfacing and rehabilitation of 856 km long highways.
NHA Chairman Major General Farrukh Javed signed the agreements on behalf of the Government of Pakistan with the contractors--Sheikh M Yousaf, Jahangir Shah and Khurrum Gul--who represented Hussnain Cotex Limited, M Ayub Limited and Caster International, respectively.
Hussain Cotex was awarded re-surfacing of 106 km Gujranwala-Kharian section of the highway. M Ayub and Caster International were award contacts for expansion of Qila Saifullah-Loralai-Bewata road and rehabilitation and expansion of Dera Ismail Khan-Chasma Right Bank Canal section, respectively.
After signing the agreements, NHA Chairman told a press conference that World Bank would provide lion share of $ 200 million for rehabilitation and expansion of road infrastructure and the Government of Pakistan would provide remaining $ 61 million.
He added that the programme included repair of 2700 km section of national highways. He told a questioner that bridge at Khairpur has already been completed.
The Chairman observed that NHA was actively following the plan to strengthen and upgrade road infrastructure in Balochistan to ensure transportation of fruits and other produce of the province to the market.
He said that construction of 1268 km long Indus Highway was top priority of the NHA.
According to the Chairman, Japan would provide funds for the construction of 800 km of Indus Highway under its ODA programme and Asian Development Bank (ADB) was willing to finance the remaining part of the road.
He noted that 243 km of Liyari-Maro section of Mukran coastal road and 133 km section of Gwadar-Pasni road and 10 km section of Gwadar city link road have already been completed as part of the plan of upgrading of road infrastructure in Balochistan.
The Chairman expressed hope that Mekran coastal road project would be completed ahead of its schedule by June this year. He said that 52 percent of Islamabad-Murree-Muzzafarabad highway has been completed and the remaining 48 percent would be competed next year.
He said that Peshawar-Islamabad section of the motorway was being handled very carefully to avoid any controversy. He noted that Rashkai-Charsada-Burhan-Islamabad section of M-1 would be complete by March this year.
The Chairman wanted more sense of road to ensure safe and sound journey on the national highways.
He added that laws were in place to regulate all sorts of traffic on the highway but they were not implemented in letter and spirit.
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