Expediting development
projects: PM forms
committee to improve the procurement process

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed the authorities to start construction work on Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway at the earliest.
The prime minister, chairing a meeting to review progress on the ongoing road projects of the National Highway Authority, also instructed to initiate construction of the Thakot-Raikot section of Karakorum Highway, Babusar Tunnel, and Khuzdar-Kuchlak road.
Calling for ensuring transparency in the process of awarding the contract, he also formed a nine-member committee to improve the procurement process.
The committee would comprise the federal communications minister, the Managing Director of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, and the Chairman Pakistan Engineering Council.
The prime minister viewed that the country could no longer afford delay in the development projects as, during the last four years, criminal negligence was shown to impede the course of development.
He also instructed to seek support from Pakistan’s embassies for verification of the international companies, as it was the responsibility of all relevant institutions to save the time and money of the country.
During the briefing, it was told that M-6 Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway was an important component of the Karachi-Peshawar Motorway but it was delayed due to the slow pace of work during the previous government.
Featuring 15 interchanges, the 306-kilometer-long motorway would pass through six districts. Besides reducing the distance and travel time and fuel consumption, the project would also ease the transportation of export goods from across Pakistan to Karachi ports.
The work on the project would start within six months which would take two-and-half years to complete, the prime minister was told.
Regarding the 250-kilometer Thakot-Raikot section of Karakorum Highway, it was told that the project’s feasibility study would be completed within seven months. Once complete, it would ease the flow of trade traffic between Pakistan and China besides providing an alternate route during the construction of the Dasu and Diamer Bhasha dams.