The PML-N government maintained its priority for the highways as the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Wednesday approved the Rs 14.2 billion Lahore-Sialkot Motorway and Rs 20 billion worth East Bay Expressway Gwadar.
The meeting was chaired by the Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The meeting approved the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway Link (4-lane) project via Narang Mandi to Narowal at a cost of Rs 14.2 billion. The Narowal link will help Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Prime Minister’s main defender against PTI’s Daniyal Aziz, besides many other MNAs and MPAs.
The project aims at the construction and dualization of 73.35 km of the new and existing road to provide a connection of Lahore-Sialkot motorway with Narang Mandi, Baddomalhi and Narowal. The minister gave instructions that the implementation must be ensured in the given time period.
An official source said that the motorway would provide another link to the Indian border through Narowal and may provide access to Indian traders interested in exporting to Afghanistan and Central Asia in the future if relations improve between the two countries.
ECNEC also approved the project for the construction of Expressway on East Bay of the Gwadar Port. The project will be financed through an interest-free loan from the government of China under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
China has already conveyed to Pakistan that the construction of the Gwadar Port East Bay Expressway and Gwadar International Airport grant would be undertaken under the Chinese grant. Both these projects are of vital importance for the initiation of industrial and commercial activity in the coastal city.
The project envisages construction of 18.981 km 4-lane divided expressway with embankment for a 6-lane structure, integrating Gwadar port with the Makran Coastal Highway as well as with its Free Zone and future container terminals.
ECNEC approved, in principle, to the Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure Project with IDA funding of $ 137 million (Rs 14.3 million). The committee directed that another committee headed by the secretary planning and development will rationalise the cost and the scope of the project. The objectives of this project are in line with the aims of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, currently being implemented by the government, to achieve universal financial inclusion in the country.
