The contractor of a multi-billion Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project could not keep its consortium together due to Pakistan’s diminishing economic condition. As a result, the project has been stalled.
Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif broke ground on the Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project in his final days. The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) and several other big conglomerates bid for the project.
According to The Nation, a consortium of four businesses, Techno-Matracon–Power China Chengdu-ACC, won the bid and received a letter of intent (LOI) to build the Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis under a public-private partnership in August 2018.
Citing reliable sources, a media report stated that after the contractor failed to maintain its consortium, the National Highway Authority (NHA) withdrew the letter of intent.
One of the senior NHA officers handling the project confirmed that the LOI was withdrawn because Power China Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited was no longer in the consortium and they did not verify their credentials despite repeated road authority requests.
He added that since Power China Chengdu Engineering Corporation Limited was the primary contractor with highway-building qualifications, the consortium would no longer be technically and legally able to proceed.
The officer claimed that NHA would build this motorway, but the following step has yet to be decided. He confirmed that the road authorities cashed the contractor’s bank guarantee.
Kharian-Rawalpindi highway is the third and final phase of the Lahore-Rawalpindi Motorway, a 100km shorter highway route between Lahore and Islamabad than the existing 375km Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2).
Out of these 290km, FWO built a 103 km Lahore-Sialkot Motorway and opened it. Meanwhile, the work on a 70 km stretch between Sialkot and Kharian Motorway is still ongoing.
