ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that unprecedented infrastructure building activity under the National Highway Authority Road Portfolio would greatly benefit people from all the four provinces.
Chairing a high-level meeting wherein he was given detailed briefing on the NHA Road Portfolio projects, the premier said that these projects, including the CPEC will cover all provinces and the whole country would benefit from the fruits of this gigantic structural development activity across the length and breadth of the country linking Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir to Karachi and Gwadar.
The PM was informed that an investment of $1 billion from private sector in the road infrastructure projects would be achieved by the end of September 2015 and the overall communication network construction activity would contribute about 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent in the GDP.
He was further briefed that there would be an addition of 1,272km in the existing Motorways network with the completion of under construction and proposed projects.
The PM issued directions to complete all projects by December 2017, other than those projects which were scheduled for earlier completion. He further directed to prepare comprehensive plans for extending Pakistan’s road infrastructure for connectivity with Central Asia in the first phase and later expanding road links to South Asia.
He also directed the NHA to prepare informative packages highlighting the road construction activity and the linkages created for the areas which were previously not connected to the Highway and Motorway networks. The prime minister appreciated the pace and quality of the work of NHA and directed to maintain the international standards in the quality of road construction. The 3,000-km corridor running from Pakistan's southern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea to China's western Xinjiang region, was launched in April during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Islamabad despite India’s strong objections.