Islamabad:
On Friday, the government succeeded in building the construction of three different sections of the “Killer road”, the Balutchistan highway or the N-25, at an estimated cost of 415 billion rupees, which is funded by RS8 by LEVY de liter on gasoline and diesel at high speed.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) released, in principle, the construction of the three sections having a total duration of 692 kilometers with an estimated cost of 415 billion rupees for three different sections, according to officials of the Ministry of Planning.
Once finished in at least three years, there will be a two -way road from Quetta to Karachi, which will also open new paths of economic development and connectivity. The vice-president of the planning commission and the Minister of Planning Ahsan Iqbal chaired the meeting of the CDWP.
The project, which will be executed in three different sections, will be presented before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for its final approval after the National Highway Authority responded to the requests raised during the CDWP meeting on Friday.
The CDWP has the mandate to approve until Rs7.5 billion projects and to refer higher cost programs to the ECNEC, chaired by Dar-Prime Minister Ishaq Dar.
The CDWP recommended the dualisation of the Karachi-Conqueta-Chaman road, which is 278 kilometers in length for the approval of the ECNEC. This route will be built with a cost of 183.4 billion rupees in three years and 33 billion rupees have been reserved in the budget for the current financial year.
However, given the low allowances the first year, it will be difficult to finish this major path in three years, unless the allowance is increased to 75 billion rupees per year from the next fiscal year.
The CDWP also in principle cleared the dualization of 99 billion rupees from the Khuzdar-Kuchlak section of N-25 having 332 kilometers in length. For the current exercise, the government allocated 34 billion rupees for its construction.
The cost of the Khuzdar-Kuchlak section is less compared to the other two roads due to the award of contracts in 2021. About 52% of work on this Khuzdar-Kuchlak route are already completed and the remaining work should be completed in two years.
The CDWP also sanctioned the dualization of the Karoro Wadh section and the Khuzdar Shaman section at the cost of RS133 billion to build a 104 -kilometer road. For this exercise, 33 billion rupees were reserved for this section. This project will need 50 billion rupees per year for the next two years to complete the program in time.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in April of this year, imposed an additional RS8 by Levy de Litre on each liter of petrol and diesel consumed by rich and poor to finance these deadly roads. There had been criticisms against the Prime Minister’s decision due to the fact that people are already strongly taxed and that the government should wisely use these resources instead of putting more charges.
The government is currently invoicing RS75 per liter Petroleum Levy, RS2.5 per liter Climate Levy and 10% custom rights on each liter of petrol sold in Pakistan, making it one of the heaviest taxed products. The gasoline is now sold to RS272 per liter after adding all the taxes and margins beneficiaries of the dealerships.
But Prime Minister Shehbaz reacted to these criticisms and said that the Balutchistan road projects were narrow. “We will finish the projects of Karachi, Kalat, Khuzdar and Quetta Highway at the highest level,” he had sworn.
The Prime Minister said that the initiative to build roads reflected the aspirations of the residents of Balutchistan and aimed to improve connectivity and to ensure safer trips in the province.
The CDWP has raised questions about the alignment of roads, cost revisions and land acquisition. Once the sponsor ministries answer these questions, the projects will be submitted before the Ecnec for final approval.
For the current exercise, the government allocated RS1 Billion for the Federal Public Sector Development Program. Among this, 210 billion rupees were reserved for various Baloutchistan projects.
