TOBA TEK SINGH/FAISALABAD – Federal Parliamentary Secretary forCommunications Mian Muhammad Shafiq Saturday said that the Shorkot-Khanewalsection of M-4 motorway will be completed within the next couple of months.
Inaugurating Gojra-Shorkot section of M-4 Motorway at Toba Tek SinghInterchange here he said the construction work on Lahore-Multan section ofLahore-Karachi motorway was also in full swings which would be completed onwar-footings.
He said that M-4 motorway would link Northern parts of the country withKarachi and Gawadar ports and help to offload the existing road network.”This four-lane motorway will contribute its role in enhancing businessactivities in this region.
It would also be the shortest route linking Faisalabad and Multan withKarachi. Thus it would also play a major role in trimming thetransportation cost of exportable surplus,” he added.
He hoped that the project would generate much-needed economic andindustrial activities in addition to creating new job opportunities for theunemployed youth in the far-flung and backward areas of Faisalabad, Jhang,Toba Tek Singh and Shorkot. It would also provide an opportunity totransport agriculture produce to the major markets of the country, he said.
About benefits of this major infrastructure project, he said that it wouldstrengthen linkages between South and North parts of the country inaddition to create new jobs and economic activities through enhancedconnectivity.
He said that this route had also linked South Punjab with M-1, M-2 and M-3motorways by providing a shortcut to the twin cities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad. Road safety was yet another hallmark of this motorway. It wouldalso serve as a transit facility for China and Central Asian states to maketheir exports to the oil-rich Gulf States, Europe and America.
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Mian Shafiq said that Gojra-Shorkot section was 61km long which had beendivided into two parts. 31km portion was from Gojra to Jamani which hadbeen completed with Rs7.45 billion and Rs900 million was saved from thisproject as its actual cost was Rs8.35 billion.
The second portion from of this section was Jamani to Shorkot which was30km long. Its estimated cost was Rs9.05 billion but it was also completedwith Rs8.65 billion, thus with a saving of Rs400 million, he added.
He said that collective saving of Rs1,300 million was ensured during thecompleting of Gojra-Shorkot section of M-4 motorway.
He said that speed limit of this motorway will be 120 km per hour and ithas three interchanges with 9 major bridges.
Inspector General (IG) Motorways AD Khawaja, Chairman National HighwayAuthority (NHA) Jawad Rafique Malik, MNA Riaz Fitiyana, and others werealso present.
