ISLAMABAD: (APP) The completion of Faisalabad-Multan Motorway (M-4) will improve Pakistan's vital north-south road network, promote economic growth, create employment opportunities and ensure regional connectivity.
An official of National Highway Authority (NHA) told APP on Thursday that two sections of the M-4 including 58 km Faisalabad-Gojra and 45 km Khanewal- Multan sections have been completed and opened for traffic while work on the remaining two Gojra-Shorkot and Shorkot-Khanewal sections is underway.
READ MORE: NHA Public Private Partnership Projects
He said that 61km Gojra-Shorkot section will connect Gojra to Shorkot via Toba Tek Singh and its ground breaking was done in November 2015 and work on its two portions - Gojra to Toba (30km) and Toba to Shorkot (31km) was in full swing and it is hoped the project would be completed by end of next year.
He said engineers had initially estimated a cost of Rs21 billion for this section of the motorway but it will be completed in just Rs17bn.
About Shorkot-Khanewal section of M-4,he said its ground breaking was done in August this year and work on the project has been started.The project will be completed at a cost of about Rs20 billion over a period of two years.He said that Shorkot-Khanewal section will contain four interchanges. The total length of this section is 64 kilometers and it is divided into two packages including Shorkot-Dinpur and Dinpur-Khanewal portions.
READ MORE: Gojra-Shorkot section of M-4 : Facts and Figures
The interchanges are provided to link provincial roads with the motorway and provide in and out access to the traffic and the local commuters.
The NHA official said that M-4 was one of the steps that would help Pakistan to act as a transit artery for goods moving between the port city of Karachi and Gwadar in the south, to Torkham on the northern border with Afghanistan.
READ MORE: Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway approved by PM
The M-4 begins at the termination point of Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway (M-3) at the Sargodha Road Interchange on the northern outskirts of Faisalabad.
It will continue on a southwest course connecting the cities of Faisalabad, Gojra, Toba Tek Singh, Shorkot, Abdul Hakeem, Khanewal and Multan.