Out of 13 motorways in Pakistan, 8 completed, 5 underway: NHA
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 2 (Gwadar Pro) - According to the National Highway Authority Pakistan (NHA), out of 13 motorways eight are completed, three are under construction while two are in the planning phase. The total planned length of these 13 motorways is around 3,770 Km.
The construction work on 3,087km is complete while work on 683km is underway. Considering the current pace of progress, it can be said that it will only take a few more years for all these motorways in Pakistan to get completed.
As per the NHA data M1 and M2 motorways from Peshawar to Islamabad and Islamabad to Lahore which are 155km and 367km long respectively are operational.
M3 motorway from Lahore to Abdul Hakeem is operational with a length of 230 km while
M4 motorway from Pindi bhattian to Faisalabad and then Faisalabad to Multan is also operational with a total length of 294 km.
M5 motorway from Multan to Sukkur is also operational with the length of 392 km while M6 motorway from Sukkur to Hyderabad which is 306km long is pending and the physical work is expected to start by December.
Similarly, M7 motorway from Dadu to Hub with a length of 270 km is planned and will start soon. While M8 motorway in Sindh from Ratodero to Gwadar which is 807 km long is partially open and the rest is under construction.
The NHA data reveals that 80% work of M8 motorway is completed while the rest is under construction and it is expected to finish by the end of 2024. The two patches of M8 motorway which are incomplete is from Hoshab to awaran and awaran to Khuzdar. The incomplete patches are 314km long.
M9 motorway Hyderabad to Karachi is also operational with a total length of 136km while M10 motorway Karachi northern bypass with 57km length is also operational.
M11 motorway from Lahore to Sialkot has a total length of 275km, out of which 89km is operational. This motorway is now being extended from Sialkot to Rawalpindi. It will be the shortest route from Lahore to Rawalpindi. The route will be 90 km shorter than M2 Lahore Islamabad motorway.
Another patch of M11 motorway from Kharian to Rawalpindi is 117km long. It will be starting next year and is expected to finish by 2025.
M13 motorway from Swabi to Chakdara (also called Swat motorway) is partially operational and is 160km long. Its phase 1 is operational since 2020 while phase 2 construction is underway and is expected to finish by 2025. It is under the public private partnership (PPP) and is the only motorway which is built under the provincial government.
M14 motorway from Islamabad to DI Khan, also known as Hakla DI Khan motorway with a length of 280 km is also completed and fully functional.
Pakistan's motorways are an important part of Pakistan's "National Trade Corridor Project" as well as for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which aims to link Pakistan's three Arabian Sea ports (Karachi Port, Port Bin Qasim and Gwadar Port) to the rest of the country through its national highways and motorways network and further north with Afghanistan, Central Asia and China.
