ISLAMABAD: The National Highway Authority (NHA) has been focusing on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects to involve private sector in highway building projects. According to an official of the NHA, the present government wants to complete the roads’ upgrades in the next five years. The official said that the goal could be achieved with the support of private sector and that the budget allocations alone can meet about 50 per cent of the set targeted demands. “The remaining amount has to come from the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects,” he said, adding that the public private partnership has become an essential component of NHA development strategy. He said that recent achievements of the NHA PPP projects include renovation of 357KM Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2), Habibabad flyover near Pattoki on Peshawar-Karachi Highway (N-5), under construction Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9) likely to be completed next year. The NHA official said the PPP projects at procurement stage include improvement and widening of Grand Trunk Road N-5 from M-2/N-5 junction (Motorway Chowk near Chungi number 26) to Taxila underpass. He said that 20KM section widening would also include 6-lane flyover at Tarnol railway crossing. He said that 53KM Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway (M-3) would be converted into six-lane motorway on BOT basis in near future. He said that work on 95KM Sialkot-Lahore Motorway has started after its ground breaking and the project will also be a landmark project built with collaboration of private sector. He said that other NHA’s PPP projects include 296KM Hyderabad-Sukkur section of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM), 35KM Tarnol-Fateh Jang section of Islamabad-Kohat Highway (N-80) to be converted into four-lane divided highway. Conversion of Nowshera-Peshawar section of N-5 into 6-lane divided expressway and two service areas on Kabul River on Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) will also be constructed under the BOT.