Rs38 billion for portion of CPEC western route

ISLAMABAD: The central part of the China-Pak Economic Corridor (CPEC) – the under-construction much-talked about western route – linking China with Gwadar by road was promised an amount of Rs38 billion in the federal budget.

This portion of the western route starts from Hakla near Tarnol (Rawalpindi) on M-1 (Motorway) and ends at Dera Ismail Khan. As a whole, a huge amount of Rs180 billion has been allocated in the budget for different CPEC-related projects.

This segment of the western corridor is primed to also change the fate of some most backward areas and will prove to be a bonanza for the heartland of the home constituency of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in Dera Ismail Khan.

This four-lane 285-kilometer-long highway has been divided in five packages. After beginning from Hakla, around five kilometers from the Tarnol level crossing on the Grand Trunk Road, this portion of the western route will immediately go on the left side of N-80 (Tarnol-Fateh Jang) near Qutbal and run parallel to it to some extent.

The western route coming from Balochistan will meet this portion at Dera Ismail Khan. In Balochistan, it begins from Gwadar and passes near Hoshab, Panjgar, Nag, Besima, Surab, Kalat, Mastung, Quetta, Pishin, Qila Saifullah and Zhob to connect with the western route in Dera Ismail Khan.

This western route will run through the districts of Dera Ismail Khan, Mianwali and Attock. It will also pass through Pahar Pur, Essa Khel, Jhand, Pindi Gheb and Fateh Jang tehsils.

Three of the five packages cover a distance of 55 kilometers each while the remaining two will be 60 kilometers each. In the 2015-16 financial year an amount of Rs10 billion was originally allocated for this project but what was actually spent on it in view of the speed of construction work was much more.