Karachi-Lahore Motorway to be completed by end of 2017

[Salman]

ISLAMABAD: Construction work of Karachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM) which would benefit a huge population of the country will be completed by September 2017.
According to official sources, the Karachi-Lahore Motorway would facilitate people commuting between Karachi and other major cities of the country including Sukkur, Badin, Ghotki, Rohri, Dadu, Pano Aqil, Abro, Rahim yar Khan, Sadiqabad, Zahir Pir, Jalalpur Peerwala Abdul Hakim, Mamo Kajan and Nankana Sahib.
The length of motorway will be 1160 kilometre and will also serve for speedy and early trading of goods in different parts of the country, said the official. He said that funds have already been released for land acquisition of the project and construction work would likely to start by year end.
Karachi-Lahore Motorway will start from Hub Karachi and end at the Babu Sabo interchange at Lahore, he said. Replying to a question, he said the government was committed to providing comfortable and affordable transport facilities to its citizens within minimum possible time.
He said that last week Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Karachi-Multan-Lahore motorway project and its 387km Sukkur-Multan section at a rationalised cost of Rs259.353bn. Ten per cent cost of the project will come from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and the rest from credit financing by the Chinese government.
The project envisages construction of six-lane Sukkur-Multan section of the 1148km, including building of bridges, interchanges, nullahs, etc.
ECNEC also approved a project for land acquisition, compensation of affected properties and relocation of utilities for the motorway at a rationalised cost of Rs51bn.