ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: National Highway Authority (NHA) attracted private sector investment worth Rs 101 billion within a period of one year.
Talking to the state-run news agency, an official of NHA said that the present government aims to put road infrastructure commensurate with requirement of the country as well as the region. It is undoubtedly the most critical activity at present moment and the country needs to get equipped with he upgraded road infrastructure in the next five to seven years, he added.
The government wants to double the road density till 2025 and in achieving this goal is only possible with the support of private sector, whereas fiscal budget allocations alone would sufficient to meet 50 per cent the set targeted demands. The rest has to come from the off-budget financing through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects, said the NHA official.
He said that public private partnership is becoming an essential component of NHA development strategy. The objectives set by NHA for PPP, he said, include development, off-budget financing, efficiency, investment, sustainability and revenue generation.
Recent achievements of the NHA’s PPP projects, he said, include renovation of 357 km Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) likely to be completed within a couple of months, Habibabad flyover on Peshawar-Karachi Highway (N-5) near Pattoki, Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9) to be completed by December next year.
He said that PPP projects at procurement stage include improvement and widening of N-5 from M-2/N-5 junction to Taxila underpass. He said that 20 km section widening would also include 6-lane flyover at Tarnol railway crossing.
He said that 53 km Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway (M-3) would be converted into six-lane motorway on BOT basis. Similarly 95 km Sialkot-Lahore Motorway would be constructed in collaboration with private parties.
He said that PPP projects at preparation stage include 296 km Hyderabad-Sukkur section of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM),35 km Tarnol-Fateh Jang section of Islamabad-Kohat Highway (N-80) to be converted into four-lane divided highway.
Conversion of Nowshehra-Peshawer section of N-5 into 6-lane divided expressway and two service areas on Kabul river on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) are also at preparation stage.
