To ensure better planning of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway project and attract private investment in this scheme National Highway Authority arranged a Stakeholders’ Consultation with the cooperation of Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) at NHA Headquarters here today where in professionals hailing from the construction industry, contractors and financers were invited at large. Commercial Attaché of Saudi Arabia based in Islamabad, representatives of Asian Development Bank and World Bank Group, also participated in the session through via video link.

In his opening remarks, welcoming the visiting guests and participants Chairman National Highway Authority Capt ® Sikander Qayyum said, the main purpose of inviting the best professionals in their respective field is to invite fresh ideas regarding procurement of only missing motorway link i-e-Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway to complete the North-South Economic Corridor. Chairman National Highway Authority Capt ® Sikander Qayyum said NHA is endeavouring hard for an earlier start of construction activity on this mega project. Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr Imran Khan also desires provision of a robust infrastructure for rapid socio-economic development in the country. To this effect, he said, the role of motorways and national highways is an accepted one. He further said NHA is obtaining the cooperation of the private sector in motorways and highways building schemes with the view to reduce financial load on the national exchequer. He said Public-Private Partnership (PPP) has been prevalent nowadays in developing as well as developed nations of the world. Creation of the private sector’s interest in infrastructure projects for better service delivery is the tool being used successfully.

Chairman National Highway Authority Capt ® Sikander Qayyum also recalled countrywide motorways and national highways projects being undertaken under gigantic China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme. NHA is committed to putting the country on the track towards socio-economic development. He hoped this consultative session of the professionals would pave the way to formulate viable recommendations to achieve the objective. The length of proposed Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway will be 306 km, 14 interchanges, one central bridge on River Indus, six flyovers, 10 Service Areas and 12 Rest Areas will also be built on this motorway. The project is planned to be completed in 30 months at a construction cost of approximately Pak Rupees 175 billion with Intelligent Transport System (ITS)

CEO of the Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) Mr. Malik Ahmad Khan expressed deep sense of gratitude to the participants for expressing interest in the consultative session. He said, deliberations of today’s consultation session on every phase and aspect of the Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway procurement starting from alignment, structuring and financing have been very informative and thought-provoking. He said, this consultative session has opened up numerous vistas of procurement methodologies and helped us to outline the proposed structure of the project. Proposals and recommendations put forward by the professionals will be forwarded to high government authorities for a decision, he added.