The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Wednesday awarded a contract of Rs9.2b to the joint venture (JV) of construction firms SKB and KNK for the fifth and last section of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s (CPEC) western route. The contract was awarded on the basis of the lowest evaluated bid.
The contract involves the construction of the road from Rehmani Khel to Kot Belian (package 2A of section five). The approved project forms an important section of the Hakla-D I Khan Motorway. The contract was awarded in NHA’s executive board meeting chaired by the authority’s chairman Shahid Ashraf Tarar.
The western route of the CPEC comprises of five different sections. Contracts for four sections have already been assigned. The fifth section has been divided into three sections comprising of construction of a bridge on River Indus and two road segments consisting of 25 km each.
Once the handover of the contract is complete, the construction work on the entire western route will commence. The project is expected to be completed by Dec 2018.
NHA spokesman is reported to have said that the last phase of the western route has been subdivided since the NHA wants work on all sections of the project to be completed simultaneously. The work on the 3 subdivided portions of the last phase will be awarded to three different contractors so that the project can be expedited.
The western route has been subject to severe criticism in the parliament since the opposition believed that the government was not serious in executing the western route and its focus was entirely on the eastern route.
To counter the opposition’s pressure, the government decided to transform the two-lane western route into a four-lane corridor.
