Majority of work on motorways and highways projects of CPEC completed: Pakistani Communication Ministry

Islamabad: Majority of work on the motorways and highways projects of the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) have been completed, Pakistani Communication Ministry announced.

A spokesperson of the ministry said that as many as “79% work on motorways and 68% on highways have been completed on Eastern and Western routes of CPEC.”

Both the Western and Eastern alignments will connect Khunjerab Pass to Gwadar.

He remarked that the two Eastern and Western alignments were expected to be completed by 2025 and the third central alignment will be completed by 2030.

The common alignment for all the three Eastern, Western and Central routes including 790 kilometres road from Khunjerab to Burhan and 193 kilometres road from Hoshab to Gwadar has been completed already. Burhan will be at the intersection of the Eastern and Western Alignment.

According to the Ministry of Communication, the distance of the Eastern route starting from Islamabad to Karachi is 1,419 km, out of which 79% work on motorways has been completed whereas 21% is left which is 306 km Sukkur Hyderabad motorway. This is the only patch left in the Eastern route of CPEC. Sukkur Hyderabad motorway is expected to be complete in the next 30 months. The company which won the tender has already been allowed to start its construction.

The Western route of CPEC starts from Islamabad to Dera Ismail Khan, then Dera Ismail Khan to Quetta, and from Quetta to Gwadar.

Excluding the common alignment, the total length of this route is 1,714 km. Out of which 68% has been completed while 32% is under construction.

The Islamabad to Dera Ismail Khan motorway has been completed recently.

The very important link of the Western route of CPEC is Dera Ismail Khan to Zhob and Quetta which is 540 km patch. This patch is under construction which is expected to

be completed by 2024.

After the completion of this patch of motorway the western alignment will also be completed.The rest of the western alignment patches including Quetta to Surab, which is 235 km, and from Surab to Hoshab, which is 449 km, is also operational.

With the start of CPEC, three routes were identified for cargo transport. The eastern alignment passes through the heavily populated provinces of Sindh and Punjab where most industries are located.

The western alignment passes through the less developed and more sparsely populated provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan, and the future central alignment will pass through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Balochistan.