Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: National Highway Authority (NHA) has started land acquisition process for upgradation of existing road section from Zhob to Quetta into four lanes facility under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The official sources at Planning and Development Division on Saturday said 235 km road section from Yarik (D.I.Khan) to Zhob will also be dualized under CPEC which is a route to connect China with Pakistan all way to Gwadar.

The existing road section from Zhob to Quetta is 231 km long and is in fairly good condition (two lane carriageway). The sources said design has been completed and PC-I is being forwarded to Planning Commission for soliciting approval.Out of this 235 km, widening of 81 km Mughal Kot to Zhob section has already started with Asian Development Bank (ADB) financial assistance. Moreover, the sources said construction activities on Western Route of CPEC have commenced already. The total length of Western route is around 2500 km, out of which 790 km is common route from Khunjrab to Hakla. Road length from Hakla to Gwadar is 1710 km.

The design for dualization of 224 km road section from Quetta to Sorab is underway and would be finalized by April-2017, the sources said and added the Sorab-Hoshab section of N-85 is 449 km out of which 447 km has been asphalted. The road from Hakla to Yarik (D.I.Khan) agreed in All Parties Conference (APC) on May 28, 2016 is altogether a new alignment comprising of a 285 km, 4-lane Motorway. The project is divided in five sections for early completion. The construction activities on the project have commenced since September-2016. The sources said the last section of Western route from Hoshab to Gwadar (193 km) is already completed and inaugurated by Prime Minister in February-2016, which has made western route functional.