CHICHIAN (Haripur): Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said that the ongoing construction of motorways, expressways and road networks across the country would change the destiny of masses and bring about progress and prosperity.

He expressed these views while speaking at a briefing given to him here on the progress of work on 60 kilometres six-lane dual carriage Hazara Motorway being constructed from Burhan to Havelian at a cost of Rs 22.34 billion under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani and MNA Capt Safdar (Retd) also accompanied the Prime Minister.

The premier said he had performed the ground-breaking of the Hazara Motorway project last year and he was visiting the area to review the progress of work on the project which would be completed by the end of 2016.

Nawaz said that Burhan-Havelian section was first phase of the project, and ground-breaking of the next phase would be performed in the next few months. Whereas, he added a four-lane expressway from Shinkiari to Thahkot in Gilgit-Baltistan was already under construction and it would be connected with Khunjrab Pass, bordering China.

The Prime Minister said that efforts would be made to complete this road, which was part of CPEC, in the next two years.

“This is a huge project and will bring about progress and prosperity in the area through enhanced development activities, opening of schools, colleges, hospitals and help create job opportunities,” he maintained. The Prime Minister said that the ground-breaking of Lahore-Karachi Motorway would also be performed very soon and the work on Karachi-Hyderabad section of the motorway had already been started. The construction of Lahore-Karachi Motorway would complete a six-lane motorway from Peshawar to Karachi, he added.

Nawaz said he had directed the National Highway Authority Chairman to complete the construction of Lahore-Karachi Motorway within the next three years. The Prime Minister said that the construction work on road networks in Balochistan was also going on at fast pace, under which a corridor from Gawadar to Mianwali via Quetta, Zhob and D I Khan was being constructed, and would later be connected with Hasanabdal. This road network would be connected with the Central Asia through Afghanistan, he added. The premier said the federal government had allocated Rs 112 billion for the construction of roads in the current year’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and would allocate more resources for this purpose in the coming years. He said that besides the construction of motorways, expressways and roads in Sindh, KPK and Gilgit-Baltistan, the government intended to launch road projects in Azad Kashmir as well.

He further said that a number of electricity and gas projects were also underway and he was personally monitoring these projects of national importance.

He also mentioned the ongoing work on Lowari Tunnel, and said the project which was lingering on from 1970 would now be completed in the next one and half years to two years.

Similarly, the Prime Minister said a seven-kilometre long tunnel had been completed at a cost of Rs 27 billion at KKH near Hunza, where the KKH had been submerged in Ataabad Lake.

Nawaz said the construction of Kaghan-Gilgit road had reduced the distance and now the people could travel from Chilas to Abbottabad and Balakot via Babusar. Referring to the development in Balochistan, the Prime Minister said the government was developing Gawadar Port as a world class and modern port and also intended to declare it a free-port.—APP