Planning Commission Submits Revised Roads Improvement Plan For Punjab to ECNEC

The Planning Commission has submitted the revised “Punjab Arterial Roads Improvement Program (PARIP) to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at the rationalized cost of Rs. 188.807 billion (US$ 662.607 million) including foreign Exchange Component (FEC) Loan of Rs. 158.144 billion (US$ 555 million).

The original PC-I was approved by the ECNEC on January 31, 2022, at the rate of 1 US$ = Rs. 168.06 and a total cost of $773.201 million.

The rationalized PC-I was approved by the ECNEC on August 05, 2023, at the rate of 1 US$ = Rs. 284.9457 and a total cost of $662.607 million.

Sources of financing include:

1. Federal / Provincial / Self Finance: 16.24 percent Share of the Provincial AD.P, i.e Government of Punjab
2. Foreign Aid (Grant / Loan — Likely Terms): 54.08 percent Share of the ADB and 29.68 percent Share of the AIIB Loan

Official documents revealed that the Commission has also sought ECNEC approval for authorization of the project given that the Government of Punjab has reviewed the alignment of Corridor-03 given the proposals on the alignment of the Lahore — Vehari / Bahawalnagar Motorway.

The project envisages the construction of 452-kilometer dual carriageway highway sections between various cities in the Punjab province. The scope of the project includes rehabilitation of the existing carriageway, construction of a new second carriageway within the available Right of Way (RoW), and acquisition of additional land where required.

The three project roads will serve the following urban areas:

Corridor 1

This project road measuring 199-kilometer length starts from Chichawatni and then traverses through the cities of Kamalia, PirMahal, Rajana interchange, Shorkot Cantonment., Shorkot, Garh Maharaja, Garh Morr, Chopbara, Chowk Azam and Layyali. This road is primarily a connection between National Highway N-5, M-3, M-4, and Indus Highway N-55.

The scope of work includes the provision of earthworks, sub-base and base course, surface course and pavement, construction of two major bridges, on the River of Ravi at Chichawatni and River Chenab at Sultan Bahoo, 3-flyovers at Chichawatni Railway Crossings, Shorkot Cantonment Railway Crossings and Garh Morr, along with bridges for major canal crossings at 31-locations exists along Corridor-1.

The scope of work also includes the construction of pipe and box culverts, pedestrian bridges, retaining walls, provision of drainage & erosion work, ancillary works, toll plaza, Right of Way (RoW), road furniture along with allied structures on either side of the Corridor.

Corridor 2

This project road measuring 103-kilometer length starts from Chiraghabad Interchange on M-4 and passes through Hang Bypass and terminates at Shorkot City. The scope of work includes the provision of earthworks, sub-base and base course, surface course & pavement, construction of 9 bridges on major canals along with one flyover at Tehsil Chowk Shorkot, culverts, pedestrian bridges, retaining walls, drainage and erosion works, ancillary works, toll plaza, Right of Way (RoW), road furniture, along with the allied structure on either side of the Corridor.

Corridor 3

This project road measuring 150-kilometer length starts from Depalpur and passes through Pakpattan, Arifwala, and Burewala and ends at Vehari. The scope of work includes the provision of earthworks, sub-base and base course, surface course & pavement, construction of bridges, rigid pavement, box culverts, drainage & erosion works, ancillary work, provision of the toll plaza, Right of Way (RoW), road furniture, along with allied structures on either side of the Corridor.

The scope of work on all corridors includes the construction of culverts, retaining walls, drainage works, toll plazas, roadside facilities along allied works. It also includes land acquisition, resettlement, shifting of utilities, the establishment of a Project Management Unit, Quality Control Lab, and a state-of-the-art Asphalt mix Design & Quality Assurance Lab.

The capacity of the department will be built through soft components like training and financing different initiatives mutually agreed upon between C & WD, GoPb, and ADB.

These may include road safety initiatives, capacity building of C&W, and strengthening of the Road Asset Management System (RAMS). The Govt. of Punjab has stated that the repayment of the loan will be made through the toll revenue collected on the road sections included in the scope of the instant project.

The Government of Punjab has planned to dualize and rehabilitate four Provincial Highways with the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AI1B). This road improvement project is generally aimed at bringing benefits to surrounding communities through lower transport costs and better access to marketplaces, jobs, and services such as health and education