Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to expedite work on five major infrastructure projects, reported 24NewsHD TV Channel on Wednesday.
During the meeting, the minister issued directives to expedite the pace of development projects in the NHA’s Western Sector the including the M-6, M-10, and key developments in Kaghan and Naran.
The session was attended by the Federal Secretary for Communications, the NHA Chairman, and other senior officials. He said that the Karachi-Quetta-Chaman N-25 highway project will begin soon. The minister revealed that Rs150 billion from NHA’s resources will be invested in the construction of new highways.
He praised the record increase in NHA's revenue and assigned the authority new performance targets. Abdul Aleem Khan also approved all new development projects for Gilgit-Baltistan, and Rs100 billion has been allocated this year for the N-25 project in Balochistan.
He announced that no future motorway will be built with fewer than six lanes and instructed that all new motorways be developed under public-private partnership (PPP) models. A deadline has been set for the completion of 90% of nearly finished projects, which will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister. He also clarified that the Lahore-Kasur Road project has no connection to Raiwind.
The NHA was also assigned the task of developing a new financial plan and conducting feasibility studies for upcoming projects."
He said that equal preference will be given to all provinces. At the end of the meeting, he shared that additional projects will also move ahead rapidly.