#Pakistan #Railways reports record income in 2018-19. PR increased the number of rail #passengers to 70 million. PR says it recorded a 7% increase in #freight volume compared with a 4% increase in 2017-18 by introducing special container trains. #transport https://www.railjournal.com/financial/pakistan-railways-achieves-re...

PR faced higher costs in 2018-19 of Rs 6bn due to pay increases, higher pension contributions, and rising fuel charges. Nevertheless, it managed to cut its annual deficit by Rs 4 billion from Rs 36bn in 2017-18 to Rs 32bn in 2018-19.

PR refurbished 24 passenger trains at its workshops in Lahore and Islamabad. These trains attracted around 8 million passengers and generated Rs 5bn in additional revenue. Overall, PR increased the number of rail passengers to 70 million. PR also introduced free Wi-Fi at its major stations and launched apps for the sale of tickets.

PR says it recorded a 7% increase in freight volume compared with a 4% increase in 2017-18 by introducing special container trains.

Infrastructure upgrades
During 2018-19, PR started the installation of a state-of-the-art command and control centre at its headquarters in Lahore to improve safety and operating efficiency on the network.

Under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, PR signed an agreement with China to upgrade 1872km of track on the Karachi – Peshawar main line. PR also floated tenders to upgrade the Attock – Jacobabad – Kotri, Rohri – Jacobabad – Quetta/Taftan, and Gwadar main lines.

PR claimed 155 hectares of land worth Rs 30 billion along 38km of the 43km Karachi Circular Railway from people encroaching on the line.

PR managed to reduce diesel fuel consumption by 3.5 million litres despite operating 24 additional passenger trains, and it planted 500,000 trees under the Clean and Green Pakistan campaign.

The hospitals, schools and colleges run by PR were offered to the private sector as e

Pakistan's services sector accounts for 54 percent of GDP and little over one-third of total employment.


https://www.pide.org.pk/pdf/Working%20Paper/WorkingPaper-79.pdf


Services sector has strong linkages with other sectors of economy; it provides essential
inputs to agriculture sector and manufacturing sector. The objective of this paper
is to analyse the importance of services sector in an economy and better
understanding about Pakistan services sector. The study also explores the
relative performance of services sector and its contribution in the economic
growth, trade and employment generation.

Classification of Services Sector in Pakistan
I. Distributive Services
· Transport, Storage and
Communications
® Railways
® Water Transport
® Air Transport
® Pipeline Transport
® Road Transport
® Mechanised
® Non- Mechanised
® Communications
® Storage
® Water Transport
· Wholesale, Retail Trade and Hotels
and Restaurants
® Wholesale and Retail Trade including
Imports
® Purchase and Sale Agents and Brokers
® Auctioning
II. Producer Services
· Financial Institution
® State Bank of Pakistan
® Commercial Bank
® Other Financial Intermediaries
® Insurance Corporations and Pension Funds
III. Personal Services
· Entertainment and Recreation
Services
· Ownership and Dwelling
IV. Social Services
· Public Administration and Defense
· Social Community and Private
Services
® Education
® Medical and Health Services
® Other Household and Community Services

91-Kilometer 4-lane #Lahore-#Sialkot #Motorway M11 opened for traffic. M11 has 7 interchanges, 6 flyovers, 24 bridges, 22 underpasses, 13 subways and 274 culverts. Connects #industries in Sialkot, #Gujranwala & #Gujrat to Lahore in a big boost to #exports. https://nation.com.pk/19-Mar-2020/lahore-sialkot-motorway-opened-fo...

The project will reduce total distance between both the cities from two and half hours to only 50 minutes.

The project was initiated by the previous government of Pa­kistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2017. The project is completed by Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) on Built Operate Transfer (BOT) mode. The maintenance and operation of said motorway would remain with FWO for next 25 years after which the road would be hand­ed over to the National High­ways Authority.

When contacted, a spokesper­son for NHA Muhammad Saleem confirmed that the motorway has been opened for commut­ers on Wednesday. He informed that the inauguration ceremony of this project could not be ar­ranged due to the emergence of corona virus.

According to the NHA docu­ments, the four-lane motorway having two lanes on each side has been completed at the cost of around Rs.43 billion. There are 7 interchanges, 6 flyovers, 24 bridges, 22 underpasses, 13 subways and 274 culverts have been included in this project.
The motorway starts from La­hore where it is connected with eastern bypass and Ring Road while its first interchange is sit­uated at Kala Shah Kaku which joins it with N-5, commonly known as GT Road as well as the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2).

Its second interchange links Muridke and Narowal while third interchange connects Aimanabad and Wando. The fourth interchange links district Gujranwala and Pasroor while the fifth one is between Daska and Pasroor.

The sixth interchange falls be­tween the Daska and Sialkot while the last interchange is sit­uated around 15km in the west of Sialkot city.

It is pertinent to mention here that this is the place which is considered as a gateway to Sialkot, Kharian and Wazirabad.

When contacted by The Na­tion, MNA from Sialkot and a senior leader of PML-N Kha­waja Muhammad Asif main­tained that the completion of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway is the fulfilment of another promise made by his leader Nawaz Sha­rif — the former prime minister.

“It was the vision of Nawaz Sha­rif to connect all regions through infrastructure to strengthen the federation of Pakistan”, he said, adding; “We had the plan to ex­tend said motorway from Sialkot to Dina via Kharian and then it was to be linked with proposed Mirpur to Muzaffarabad Motor­way and Lahore-Islamabad Mo­torway (M-2) by crossing Rawat at Rawalpindi.

He criticised by saying that the incumbent government is visionless and its agenda is de­struction not the development.

The completion of this long-awaited project will im­prove connectivity of industri­al triangle of Sialkot, Gujranwa­la, Gujrat-Wazirabad to the rest of the country especially Lahore — resulting in a big boost to exports.

The area was a key manufac­turing part of the country, ac­counting for about 15 percent of Pakistan’s annual exports. Exports from Sialkot included sports goods, surgical equip­ment, leather garments, riding gear, polo equipment, badges, motorbike accessories and ag­ricultural products including the world-famous Basmati rice. The neighbouring Gujranwala is the center of ceramics and tex­tile products, while Wazirabad and Gujrat provide a big share of cutlery.

ML-1 Project: How can an outdated railway line change the destiny of Pakistan? - BBC URDU

https://youtu.be/D7pTwYlzkrI

یک وقت آئے گا جب پاکستان میں ٹرینیں بنا توقف 160 کلو میٹر فی گھنٹہ پر دوڑیں گی اور لاہور سے اسلام آباد آپ صرف ڈھائی گھنٹے میں پہنچ پائیں گے۔ کراچی سے حیدرآباد تو صرف ایک گھنٹہ لگے گا۔ یہاں تک کہ مال بردار ٹرین بھی 120 کلو میٹر فی گھنٹہ پر چلے گی۔ ایسا اس وقت ہو گا اگر آٹھ برس کی مدت میں کراچی سے پشاور تک جانے والی مین لائن ون چین کی مدد سے بحال ہو پائے گی۔ اس سے نہ صرف ریلوے کو نئی زندگی ملے گی، پاکستان کی معیشت بھی اس سے مستفید ہو گی۔ ایم ایل ون کیا ہے، کس حال میں ہے اور کیسے بحال ہو گی، دیکھیے ہمارے ساتھی عمر دراز اور فرقان الٰہی کی اس رپورٹ میں

Bankability of the Transport Sector by Karandaaz

https://karandaaz.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Bankability-of-...

Executive Summary:

1. The Transport, Logistics and Communications (TLC) sector is estimated to have contributed 13.3% of GDP in 2016-17. Of this, more than 62% was contributed by the road transport sector. In 2014-15 the sector employed 3.1 million people.

2. Most traffic intensive routes are a) Karachi to Peshawar via Hyderabad-Multan-Faisalabad-Rawalpindi; b) Sukkur to Quetta; c) Karachi to Quetta via the RCD Highway; and d) N-5 National Highway segment of Multan-Lahore-Gujranwala-Rawalpindi.

3. Passengers and freight are the primary segments of road transport sector. The fastest growing freight segment is the delivery vans at 7.5% annually, while for the passenger segment it is motor cabs and taxis at 5.9% annually.

4. Road transport grew at an average rate of 6.2% annually between 1991 and 2016, faster than the average GDP growth rate 4.4% during this period. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is expected to accelerate transport sect or growth with construction of roads and other transport infrastructure.

5. Freight transport sector is highly lucrative with profit margins ranging from 21% for large trucks to 43% for rickshaws. Passenger transport sector is even more lucrative with 30% profit margin for wagons to 50% for luxury buses.

Globally, logistics is a $4.3 trillion industry, contributing an average of eight to 10% to the GDP, creating thousands of new jobs and improving export competitiveness substantially. A look at the World Bank’s Logistics Performance (LPI) for the last 10 years provides sufficient evidence; the countries ranked in the top 20 include the 10 strongest economies in the world.

https://www.globalvillagespace.com/pakistans-logistics-industry-ham...

The performance of the logistics sector provides a stark contrast to the economic recession Pakistan has been mired in. As of December 2018, the logistics sector is valued at $34.2 billion, registering an annual growth rate of 18% between 2017 and 2018 (source: Ministries of Communications and Postal Service). However, experts are quick to point out that the figures present only part of the picture because a large segment of the sector operates in the grey economy with no verifiable records or data.

There are about 2,500 logistic and freight forwarding companies in Pakistan that not only serve as shipping companies that transport cargo but also provide end-to-end solutions to customers facilitating trade through sea, air, road transport systems and a combination of these modes.

Recently, the transport industry has jumped to protests and suspension of operations due to policy changes. Operations were impact when the government attempted to revise the axle load limits which stirred controversy between the transporters, business community, and the government. The National Highway Authority (NHA) increased the fines imposed on violations approximately 10 times which was not received well by transporters. A speeding fine, for example, which was previously RS. 750 has now gone up to RS. 10,000 for some vehicles.

Pakistan is ranked at 95 among 167 countries on the aggregated Logistic Performance Index (LPI), trailing behind a number of Asian countries due to lack of spending on infrastructure projects including airports and highways.

https://propakistani.pk/2019/07/24/pakistan-ranks-among-the-worst-i...

India is at 35th position while Sri Lanka stands at 92nd place in the list. Regional countries including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines are far ahead of Pakistan, according to a report published by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Where’s CPEC?
Luckily, Pakistan’s performance on the infrastructure component of the LPI is likely to improve, particularly in the wake of CPEC-related development of roads, railways, and the Gwadar port. In addition, CPEC is also expected to boost the prospects of the shipping industry, and forward-thinking investors are reportedly keen to explore such opportunities.

Why Logistics Sector Holds Great Value?
A more concerted policy focus is required to tackle the shortcomings reflected in other LPI components. These can be viewed as a subset of the ease of doing business, and may thus be added to the agenda items that the country is looking to address in order to attract more FDI and boost exports.

The efficient logistics lie at the heart of competitiveness, both at the firm and country level. They enable firms to connect with domestic and international markets and affect a country’s prospects of integration within global value chains.


Logistics impact trade, job creation, and economic development. Given its importance, there is a need to track logistics performance and take corrective action as needed.

The Criteria
To this end, the World Bank’s LPI serves as a benchmarking tool that scores and ranks logistics performance. The index can be further categorized into 6 distinct components, namely:

International shipments: The ease of arranging competitively priced international shipments
Logistics competence: The competence and quality of logistics services
Infrastructure: The quality of trade and transport-related infrastructure (for example, ports, roads, railroads, information technology)
Customs: The efficiency of customs and border management
Timeliness: The frequency with which shipments reach consignees within the scheduled or the expected delivery time
Tracking and tracing: The ability to track and trace consignments
World Bank’s aggregated LPI 2012-2018 provides a composite, weighted score and ranking based on four surveys, which minimizes random variations across individual surveys and facilitates comparison across 167 countries.

Moreover, the six components reveal that Pakistan’s weaknesses are broad-based. In four out of six components, Pakistan’s ranking ranges between 100 and 112. In fact, the country ranks last on the ‘Tracking and tracing’ component compared to selected South Asian countries.

Pakistan’s road network comprises of Motorways, National Highways, Expressways, Strategic
Roads, Provincial / District Roads and Farm to Market Roads as well as urban roads.
The entire road network has a length of more than 260,000 km with present road
density of 0.32 km per sq. km.
The urban roads are linked with district and provincial road which terminate at National
Highways hence form a complete highway network for inter and intra country
movement. Road transport presently dominates Pakistan’s transport system carries
about 90% passenger traffic and 95% of freight traffic. Pakistan’s National Highways
are differentiated in terms of North South and East West Corridors providing connectivity to the
population, divided into two parts by River Indus which flows through the center of country


https://www.piarc.org/ressources/documents/1217,Pakistan-Profile.pdf

Pakistan is striving to improve its ranking as the slowest for infrastructure expansion in the region, according to the World Bank, through a $2.4 billion government investment for highways, power and transportation this year.

The investment is in addition to billions of projects being funded by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Gulf Council Countries, JICA and the $56 billion China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which has been criticized for the high debt burden it will place on Pakistan.


https://www.enr.com/articles/51571-pakistan-invests-in-infrastructu...


Three metro projects are planned while several motorways and a revival of the circular rail in the port city of Karachi are also in the works. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the ADB have approved a $500 million loan to Pakistan for construction activity. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s has also announced a $30 billion plan to rehabilitate and develop the dying River Ravi into a perennial freshwater body. That project is being managed by Singapore’s Meinhardt Group.

But fundamental issues, such as safety, quality and contracting in the country, threaten to derail any progress, Said Mneimne senior vice president and managing director of Asia-Pacific for Hill International told ENR from Islamabad.

U.S. based Hill entered Pakistan’s real estate sector in 2017 as a project coordinator when it was awarded the $2.4 billion Crescent Bay 108-acre mixed-use development on reclaimed land at a seafront site about 12 miles from Karachi. Last year, the company was selected to provide construction consultancy services for the 2 million sq. m mixed-use development project called Elite Reverie, also known as Eighteen. The company is also pursuing opportunities in funded power and mass transit programs such as the Bus Rapid Transit in Karachi, Mneimne says.


“The consultant-contractor relationship in Pakistan, for example, is a tough one. Contractors treat themselves as labor demanding money every week instead of that laid out in the contract, or else threaten,” to leave, he said. “The concept of project management is not used here as the environment doesn’t justify it.”

Additionally, construction technology is from the 1960s, cranes are old and excavations must be done manually. However, he said, some clients are beginning to understand the need for improvements.

The Asian Development Bank is encouraging improvements and providing funding for things such as smart technologies and innovative development approach. The Pakistan government has frozen or reduced some taxes for construction projects and has granted amnesty to those with undeclared money if they invest in construction. This will be “to offset the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the national economy,” Prime Minister Imran Khan announced in January.


The government of Pakistan is also starting to focus on public-private partnerships. “Pakistan represents an opportunity for significant growth,” Mneimne explained. “The government’s attention to the construction sector, combined with the demographic realities of the population, means that urban development simply must occur.”

Centre removes all bottlenecks to launch Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway project

https://www.dawn.com/news/1621736

The 306-km-long motorway is part of PM’s Rs446bn Sindh development package.

A recent meeting of the Public-Private Partnership Authority chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umar took up several matters, including the Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway project which was facing some issues to take off.

With the fresh development, sources said, the project could formally be launched in the current month for further proceedings.

Mr Umer in a tweet said: “Chaired meeting of public private partnership authority today in which we authorised the viability gap fund and transaction structure for the Sukkur Hyderabad motorway project. This motorway will be the biggest project in the Sindh development package announced by the PM.”


Meanwhile, a source privy to the development said that the project envisaged construction of a 306-kilometre-long green-field six-lane access controlled motorway on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis at a cost of Rs191 billion.

“The federal government intends to supplement through capital and operational VGF [Viability Gap Fund], the financial viability and bankability of the project,” the source said citing financial and technical details of the project.

“The project’s construction period is three years including six months financial close and concession period is 25 years. The project is expected to be financed through debt-to-equity ratio of 70:30 after deducting government of Pakistan’s share of capital VGF in the project. The project is expected to provide 17 per cent equity IRR [internal rate of return] to the investor while generating NHA [National Highway Authority] revenue share amounting to Rs127 billion,” he said.

He said that since the project was proposed to be financed on a BOT basis, all the significant risks related to Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway construction and operations including arranging finances would remain with the private sector except change of law and political risk.

It would be the biggest project under the Sindh development package announced by the PM in April, he said and added that its commercial feasibility study along with transaction structure had been approved with high hopes that it would be floated in the market in May 2021.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had on April 16 unveiled a historic development package worth Rs446bn to develop backward areas of the PPP-led Sindh through power supply, irrigation, sports and communication projects.

The package features restoration of 200,000 acres of agricultural land, upgrading of 14 passports offices, construction of the Nai Gaj dam to irrigate around 28,800 acres, 306-kilometre Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway, gas supply to 160 villages and annual 30,000 new power connections in the neglected districts.

Under the package, Rs52bn would be spent on power and gas supply to the deprived areas and Rohri; and the Hyderabad’s railway stations would be upgraded. The federal government has also decided to complete the Nai Gaj dam project after the Sindh government refused to do its part. Similarly, some 100,000 youth in 14 preferred districts would be imparted skill training; and sports facilities would be developed for the benefit of 130,000 youth, 35,000 of them female.

The package would also ensure introduction of 3G and 4G internet services for 3.7 million people and optic fibre connectivity for 1.2m.

An official privy to the details of the Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway design, meanwhile, said the motorway was proposed to be a high-speed toll road facility for efficient and safe transportation, which would start from Hyderabad — end of the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway M-9 — and terminate at Naro Canal — start of the Sukkur-Multan motorway, M-5.

“The project alignment passes through Jamshoro, Tando Adam, Hala, Shahdadpur, Nawabshah, Moro, Dadu, Naushehro Feroze, Mehrabpur, Rasoolpur, Larkana, Khairpur and Sukkur,” he added.

#Pakistan Federal Govt to invite bids for M6 next month. The 306 kilometer 6-Lane #Hyderabad- #Sukkur Motorway to be built on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis at a cost of Rs. 191.471 billion.#Karachi #Peshawar Motorway. #Lahore #CPEC #infrastructure https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/09/09/govt-to-launch-biddi...

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill said on Wednesday that the federal government will open the financial bids for the Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway (M6) in October.

The construction of the Hyderabad- Sukkur motorway at the revised PC-1 cost of Rs191.471 billion has been approved by The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

The 6-lane motorway project would be constructed on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis, covering 306 Kilometers.

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin announced during the ECNEC meeting in Islamabad that the project was expected to be completed in 30 months

#Pakistan #Motorways: 171-Mile 4-Lane M-14 Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway to open for traffic on Dec 13, 2021. It's part of #CPEC Western Route. https://pakobserver.net/m-14-motorway-to-open-for-traffic-on-dec-13/ via @pakobserver

The Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14), a key section of the western alignment of CPEC, will be open to traffic on December 13, said Sajid Hussain, project director of the M-14 motorway, Gwadar Pro reported on Thursday.

A source added that the member motorways of the NHA board had informed the authority’s chairman that the motorway was complete in all respects and could be inaugurated even in early December.

He added that work was underway on construction of service areas. However, the main work has been finished, he said.

The M-14 motorway is the starting section of the western corridor of CPEC. It connects South KP, South Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces with the M-1 motorway, intersecting the eastern alignment of CPEC at Hakla near Islamabad.

The provincial governments of KP and Balochistan are presently purchasing land for the next section of M-14, from Dera Ismail Khan to Zhob district of Balochistan.

However, the federal government has already initiated work on modifying the existing two-lane highway from Dera Ismail Khan to Quetta, capital of Balochistan, into a four-lane expressway.

This will drastically reduce the distance and travel time between northern and southern parts of the country. The corridor will finally lead to Karachi and Gwadar, thus providing for the shortest route of CPEC.

The M-14 motorway has been the most awaited CPEC section in Islamabad, as the expat workers to benefit from this motorway form the largest community in the federal capital. It is very exhausting to travel to Islamabad from southern parts of the country on existing roads.

The M-14 motorway will make our travel and life easy, said Siftain Khan, who hails from Dera Ismail Khan and works as an overseas education consultant in Rawalpindi, the twin city of Islamabad.

79pc motorways and 68pc highways completed under CPEC

https://pakobserver.net/79pc-motorways-and-68pc-highways-completed-...

As many as 79% work on motorways and 68% on highways have been completed on eastern and western routes of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), according to Gwadar Pro.Both the Western and Eastern alignments will connect Khunjerab Pass to Gwadar.

The common alignment for all the three eastern, western and central routes including 790 km road from Khunjerab to Burhan and 193 km road from Hoshab to Gwadar has been completed already.

Burhan will be at the intersection of the Eastern and Western Alignment.

According to the officials in the Ministry of Communication, the distance of the Eastern route starting from Islamabad to Karachi is 1,419 km, out of which 79% work on motorways has been completed whereas 21% is left which is 306 km Sukkur Hyderabad motorway.This is the only patch left in the eastern route of CPEC. Sukkur Hyderabad motorway is expected to be complete in the next 30 months. The company which won the tender has already been allowed to start its construction.

On the other hand, the western route of CPEC starts from Islamabad to D. I Khan, then D. I Khan to Quetta, and from Quetta to Gwadar. Excluding the common alignment, the total length of this route is 1,714 km. Out of which 68% has been completed while 32% is under construction.

The Islamabad to D I khan motorway has been completed recently. The very important link of the western route of CPEC is D.I khan to Zoub and Quetta which is 540 km patch.

List of Motorways in Pakistan

https://www.incpak.com/info/motorways-in-pakistan/

For a long time we have known that improved transport accessibility leads to more opportunities and better lives.

ANDREW DABALENSHOMIK MEHNDIRATTA|JANUARY 24, 2022

https://blogs.worldbank.org/transport/knowledge-action-new-way-maxi...

Accessibility describes how easy (or difficult) it is for people to reach services and opportunities. When you look at the data, significant accessibility gaps persist around the world. Globally 51% of individuals living in low-income countries reside within an hour of a city compared to 91% of individuals in high-income countries. This limited access to urban centers hinders rural populations from accessing services and opportunities, including healthcare, education, jobs, and markets. Gender plays an important role as well: as these findings from Pakistan illustrate, women typically must cover greater distances to reach basic services. Even for people living in cities, accessibility may vary depending on the availability of public transport, the impact of traffic congestion.

Lack of access is systematically linked to inferior development outcomes, even more so if motorized transport is not available. The inability to travel to healthcare facilities, for instance, has been associated with increased mortality and morbidity from treatable conditions. Conversely, improved access is often synonymous with improved development outcomes. For example, women with access to roads in Pakistan are twice more likely (14% vs 28%) to go to pre-natal consultations. In rural Morocco, girls’ enrollment in primary schools increased from 17% to 54% when their access to roads improved.

Looking particularly at rural roads investments, the construction of a new road can lead to a chain of positive impacts. When a rural community gets connected to the road network, people who could not reach healthcare, schools, or other essential services before are suddenly able to do so. Workers can access more and better jobs. Farmers can sell their products in more distant markets. But these outcomes can only materialize if rural road projects are carefully planned and prioritized. Also, while investments in road networks are often a critical first step toward enhancing accessibility, they should be integrated into a broader investment package targeting social and technological development overall.

However, transforming this knowledge into action had been hard to operationalize. Lack of data regarding the transport network, opportunities, limited computing power to calculate travel times in large areas and lack of consistent framework had made it hard for us to take this academic research into an operational reality. We needed to understand exactly which transport projects will have the highest impact on accessibility? How would this accessibility transform into household welfare? And how do we create tools to inform planning and investment decisions?

To address these questions, the World Bank’s Transport and Poverty and Equity teams jointly developed a new framework that relies on high-resolution mapping and other sophisticated analytical tools to provide a more granular view of how rural road infrastructure can benefit communities.

We are now able to deploy all that knowledge into operational action, by developing an analytical framework that highlights spatial disparities in access to services and opportunities, calculates the expected gains in accessibility from investments into road infrastructure and thereby informs the placement of transport investments throughout the region.

CPEC project keeps children fed


https://tribune.com.pk/story/2343158/cpec-project-keeps-children-fed

Hundreds of children belonging to lessprivileged families in the scenic Kaghan Valley are being fed on a daily basis at the under-construction Suki Kinari hydropower project along the Kunhar River.

The Suki Kinari dam project, one of the key initiatives of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), is estimated to generate 884 megawatts of electricity, which will benefit 13 million households.

According to Mari Petroleum, around 6,000 locals are already involved in the construction work, and once complete, it will create hundreds of more jobs. It is a unique project for which a 30km long tunnel will be dug through the mountains and from where the water will be diverted to the power turbines with the help of pipes.

Launched in 2017, 83% of the work of Suki Kanari Energy Project has been completed. It is hoped that this project will be added to the national grid next year, increasing Pakistan's hydropower reserves by nine percent.

Since the 1990s, the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan have sought to encourage private sector participation in development projects and in the provision of public infrastructure and related services in Pakistan. Beginning in the 2000s, several legal and regulatory changes have been made to expand the use of public–private partnerships.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=3df8a24e-6658-405c-a...

As of 2020, the federal government and all four provincial governments have passed PPP-specific legislation, formalising and enabling the regime, including by creating independent statutory bodies to facilitate, support and promote PPPs. At the federal level, the Public Private Partnership Authority (the PPP Authority) was set up in 2017 under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, No. VIII of 2017 (the 2017 PPP Act). The PPP Authority replaced the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF), formed by the federal government in 2006 to facilitate PPPs. The 2017 PPP Act was subsequently amended through the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Act, 2021 (the 2021 Amendment Act), to create a more facilitative PPP regulatory framework and make it more amenable to private investment in development projects.

Traditionally, PPPs in Pakistan have been particularly common in the energy, power generation and transportation sectors. In fiscal year 2019–2020, 17 infrastructure projects involving private investment reached financial closure.2 The power sector made up the largest investment share with a total investment amount of US$5 billion.3 In recent years, though, the government has expressed a commitment to using PPPs in many more sectors including aviation, technology, healthcare, tourism and others. In late 2019, the Prime Minister approved a development plan, expected to run from fiscal years 2020 to 2023, termed the Public Sector Development Programme Plus (PSDP+) initiative, firmly orienting the government towards PPPs across sectors.4

In addition to the federal initiative, each of the four provinces – Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – has its own specific roster of projects and policies to promote PPPs. In accordance with the Constitution, PPPs in the areas enumerated in the Federal Legislative List fall within the domain of the federal government, while other areas generally fall under the domain of the provinces. This chapter focuses on the federal regime as exemplary of other models, but where relevant, also references the provincial regimes.

The year in review

According to information available on the PPP Authority's official website, at the federal level, 47 PPP projects are in the pipeline across sectors out of the 105 PSDP+ portfolio federal projects.5 Additionally, the PPP Authority lists a number of 'early harvest' projects that it is assisting with, including:

the construction of the Sukkur Hyderabad Motorway (expected cost around US$1.2 billion);
the construction of the Sialkot Kharian Motorway (expected cost around US$225 million);
the construction of a teaching and research hospital;
the construction of an innovations ecosystem (science and technology park);
the conversion of a guesthouse located in Lahore (the provincial capital of Punjab province) into a hotel;
the creation of a mass transit facility in a major city, the Karachi Circular Railway; and
the modernisation of the current Karachi–Pipri Rail Track.6
Previous projects finalised by the IPDF include:

the overlay and modernisation of the Lahore Islamabad Motorway (investment of US$460 million), which has been in operation since 2016;
the construction of the Lahore Sialkot Motorway (investment of US$438 million), which is in operation now;
the conversion of an existing four-lane super highway into a six-lane Karachi Hyderabad highway (investment of US$430 million), which has been in operation since 2017; and
the construction of the Habibabad Flyover (investment of US$8 million), which has been in operation since 2014.7

Pakistan - Operational Design for the Project Development Fund and for the Viability Gap Fund

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/12391


This final report is the fifth deliverable for the World Bank funded project 'operational design for the project development fund and for the viability gap fund'. Taking into account feedback and further consideration of issues rose in the previous Reports, it aims to: provide high level recommendations on the overall Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework in Pakistan, recognizing international best practice but also taking into account the specific Pakistan context and the challenges faced their-in; provide the analysis of the project pipeline for PPP projects in Pakistan, on the basis of consultations undertaken in Islamabad in May 2009; and design possible structures for the Project Development Fund (PDF) and for the Viability Gap Fund (VGF), that is informed by the current local enabling environment for PPPs, including the institutional capabilities and the existing pipeline of PPP projects. This final report incorporates feedback from the World Bank and the Government of Pakistan on each of the above-listed issues, which were set out and discussed in details in previous reports.

Asad Mahmood, the Federal Minister for Communications and Postal Services, announced on Friday afternoon that the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway (M-6) of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will be completed as soon as possible.

https://www.economy.pk/sukkur-hyderabad-motorway-project-to-get-pri...

During his visit to the National Highway Authority (NHA) headquarters, the minister revealed this in a meeting with Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Shah.

The federal ministers were informed of the ongoing building projects across the nation, particularly in Sindh, by Federal Secretary for Communications Zafar Hasan and NHA Chairman Captain (Retd) Muhammad Khurram Agha. Asad Mahmood, the Minister for Communications and Postal Services, told his cabinet colleague Khursheed Shah and the people of Sindh that the ongoing motorway projects will be completed quickly.

Asad Mahmood stated that the required documents had been completed and that construction on the 306-kilometer motorway will begin soon. The projected Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway will be 306 kilometers long.

Here's the latest Census data on modes of #freight #transport in #US. #Trucks ($10.4 trillion) claim humongous market share. #Rail only 250 billion. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/02/what-is-in-that-truc...

https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/1530964873567358977?s=20&...

Pakistan allocates Rs800 billion for FY23 PSDP
June 11, 2022

https://pkrevenue.com/pakistan-allocates-rs800-billion-for-fy23-psdp/

The country presented the federal budget 2022/2023, which envisages PSDP worth 800 billion rupees for the next fiscal year.

It has been centered on improvement in sectors such as water resources, transport and communication, energy, higher education, health, science and technology, and balanced regional development.

The emphasis of PSDP is also on revival of CPEC and related projects for inter-provincial and regional connectivity with equal importance to Special Economic Zones to promote trade, industrialization and create job opportunities.

The major thrust in the Information and Communication Technology sector including establishment and operations of Special Technology Zones.

Under the PSDP, the government has allocated 44.179 billion rupees including foreign aid of 1.3 billion rupees to the Higher Education Commission for implementation of 151 development projects.

The allocation indicates an increase of one hundred percent over the last year.

An allocation of over 197 billion rupees has been made for 117 power related projects.

These include hydro power generation projects such as Diamer-Bhasha, Mohmand, Nai Gaj and the fifth extension of Tarbela. Initiatives like developing water storages, automatic telemetry system, rainwater harvesting, decreasing water losses, ground water regulation and management would be undertaken in consultation with the stakeholders.

Over nine billion rupees have been earmarked for Ten Billion Trees Tsunami Programme Phase-I to achieve the target of planting 500 million trees.

Similarly, over 563 million rupees and over 1.2 billion rupees have been allocated for installation of weather surveillance radars at Multan and Sukkur respectively.

The Federal PSDP has also proposed an amount of 1.5 billion rupees to complete the emergent nature of small flood schemes all over Pakistan.

An allocation of 227 billion rupees has been made for strengthening efficiency of transport and logistics for domestic commerce and regional connectivity.

The high impact infrastructure projects to be completed under Public Private Partnership mode include Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway, Sialkot-Kharian Motorway, Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway, and Karachi Circular Railway. Under the CPEC, D I Khan-Zhob section is under discussion with the Chinese side for financing and it is expected to be launched in the next financial year.

The concessional financing agreement for landmark ML-1 project is to be finalized in the second quarter of the next fiscal year and subsequently arrangements will be made for groundbreaking of the project.

A comprehensive National Action Plan for agriculture modernization has been prepared in terms of capacity building, agricultural product processing technology extension, fishery science and technology, aquaculture and aquatic products processing.

NHA awards contract for construction of last section of CPEC’s M-8 Motorway--China Economic Net


http://en.ce.cn/Insight/202206/14/t20220614_37755846.shtml

Islamabad, June 14 (Gwadar Pro) - The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Monday awarded an Rs 8 billion contract for the construction of 168 kilometres long-missing link in the M-8 Motorway of the central alignment of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative.

The 250 kilometres Ratodero-Khuzdar and 193 kilometres Gwadar-Hoshab sections of the M-8 Motorway are operational. Similarly, work on 146 kilometres long Hoshab-Awaran section is also underway at a cost of Rs9.12 billion. The contract for the last missing link between Awaran and Naal (near Khuzdar) has been awarded to a joint venture of Habib Construction Services and Matracon Pakistan for Rs 8.08 billion.

After completion of this section, Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore will be connected with the Gwadar Port through the shortest route, NHA said. It will also mark the completion of the first-ever access-controlled link between the Gwadar Port and northern parts of the country.

The M-8 Motorway starts from Ratodero in Sindh and culminates at the Gwadar Port, passing from Khuzdar, Awaran, Hoshab and Turbat areas of Balochistan.

The east-west motorway will link Sukkur, Sindh with Gwadar. Pakistan has already completed a network of access-controlled roads from Peshawar and Islamabad up to Sukkur.

Commissioner For Early Resolution Of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway Land Acquisition Issue

https://nation.com.pk/2022/06/23/commissioner-for-early-resolution-...


HYDERABAD-Hyderabad Commissioner Nadeem-ur-Rehman Memon has asked the officers of National Highway Authority (NHA) to take concrete steps to resolve land acquisi-tion issues for construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway without any further delay. He issued the directives while presiding over a review meeting on land acquisition issues for construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway on Wednesday. He said, the land of Forest Department was also an issue for the construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway for which a legal way should be adopted to avoid any conflict. He also reviewed the ongoing construction work of roads lying in the limits of Matiari and Jamshoro districts and directed the concerned authorities to complete the work as soon as possible. The Director Land Acquisition informed that all issues would be resolved up to July 15, 2022. Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, Deputy Commissioner Matiari Adnan Rashid and other concerned officers attended the meeting.

NHA gears up to link CPEC M-14 with Pakistan-Afghanistan border

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2022/07/05/nha-gears-up-to-link-cp...

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to connect Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan with Motorway 14 (M-14), a project of the western alignment route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) via a 184km-long Motorway.

According to Gwadar Pro on Tuesday, the National Highway Authority (NHA) on Monday issued a request for proposal (RFP) of consultancy services for the Feasibility Study and Detailed Design for the Construction of the Motorway from Ghulam Khan to Esa Khel Interchange (184km approx).

The project will be financed by the Federal Government through PSDP 2022-23 through separate head/allocation.

In this regard, a pre-proposal conference on the project will be held on July 19, 2022, at NHA headquarters in Islamabad while procurement will be carried out by adopting the “Single Stage Two Envelops” procedure.

The proposals complete in all respects in accordance with the instructions provided in the RFP document in sealed envelopes, which should reach on or before August 10, 2022.

Esa Khel Interchange is located over M-14 in Mianwali district of Punjab, which is in proximity to the Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Between Mianwali and Ghulam Khan falls Bannu district of KP. After Torkham and Chaman, Ghulam Khan is the third most important crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has already started benefiting from Gwadar Port and the country received the first consignment of bulk cargo from the United Arab Emirates in July 2020. Ghulam Khan crossing, at the Pak-Afghan border point, is the shortest route connecting CPEC’s western route with Afghanistan, Central Asian States and beyond.

Mastercard partners with Pakistan’s One Network to Digitize Road Toll Payments | Middle East/Africa Hub

https://newsroom.mastercard.com/mea/press-releases/mastercard-partn...

Islamabad, Pakistan; 08 November 2021 – Mastercard has signed a strategic partnership with the Pakistani intelligent transport systems provider, One Network, to digitize the country’s road toll payments network. The announcement was signed at the Pakistan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, where Mastercard is the Official Payment Technology Partner, in the presence of Frontier Works Organization, Pakistan’s biggest toll collection entity.

The partnership will see Mastercard integrate its digital payment gateway infrastructure into One Network’s newly launched Apple and Android smartphone app, allowing motorway commuters to top-up their M-Tag cards in advance from anywhere using their mobile devices. The newly developed app will also enable motorists to review their travel history and check their balance in real-time.

Every year, over three hundred million vehicles travel and pay Toll Tax on Pakistan’s motorways. M-Tag uses RFID technology (radio-frequency identification) to automatically and digitally deduct credit from commuters’ prepaid M-Tag accounts as they pass through RFID-enabled toll lanes. With the integration of Mastercard’s digital mobility payment solutions, commuters can add credit whenever and wherever is most convenient to them through the new application without interrupting their journeys.

HOW ROADS CHANGED THARPARKAR


by Arif Hasan

https://www.dawn.com/news/1714144

The main recommendation of the 1987 report on drought and famine conditions in Thar, prepared by the author, was that the changes taking place in Thar could only be consolidated through increased mobility and linkages of Thar with the rest of Pakistan in general and Karachi and Hyderabad in particular.

It was felt that, if a road-building programme did not take place, the inequities in Thari society would increase, since those who could hire or possess four-wheel drives would be the main beneficiaries of Thar’s huge mineral and livestock potential.

For mobility and linkages to happen, a road-building programme had been recommended, which envisaged linking the four Thar taluka headquarters with one another and with the national road network. However, it was not till the Musharraf era (2000-08) that a road-building programme commenced.

The roads have made transportation cheaper and easier. The old six-wheeler kekra [World War II era American truck], which was slow and consumed enormous amounts of energy plying on the desert tracks, has been replaced by normal Bedford trucks, which are cheaper to run and can carry 250 maunds as opposed to 150 maunds carried by the kekras.

It is claimed by the transporters that, earlier, it used to take three hours from Mithi to Naukot, but now this has been reduced to one hour. They also claim that the cost of petrol/diesel and maintenance of vehicles have been reduced by 20 per cent.

With the building of the road network, trade and commerce has increased substantially. Thar’s agricultural produce now goes to distant markets — six to seven lorries per day carry onions from Nagarparkar to Lahore, and vegetables and fruit from other areas of Sindh and Punjab are now easily available in Thar.

Unlike the situation that prevailed 15 years ago, there are cattle markets in the taluka headquarters, so the Tharis do not have to make the long trek on foot to Juddo to sell their animals. Shops carrying industrially produced household food have multiplied and sell items such as baby diapers, something quite unimaginable before. Every hour an air-conditioned bus, complete with TV and Wi-Fi (owned mainly by Pakhtuns and people of Mianwali based in Karachi) leaves for or arrives in Mithi.

The number of taxis operating in Thar has increased from 150 to over 400, while the qingqis in Mithi have increased from over 150 to over 300 since 2013. These taxis carry passengers not only within Thar but to distant locations all over Pakistan, while the qingqis have almost completely replaced transport animals such as camels and bullocks.

Bank loans for the purchase of taxis are available, but to buy the qingqis and trucks, one can only borrow from the informal market. Interest rates against loans are high and vary depending on how much advance payment can be made by the borrower, or if property or land can be mortgaged against the loan. Spare parts and mechanics for the maintenance of the taxis and qingqis are locally available, which was not so in 2000 and, very often, the vehicles had to be taken to Umerkot for maintenance purposes.

Almost all these different types of vehicles have no insurance, since the owners find insurance rates far too expensive and prefer to put their trust in God. The qingqi and taxi owners have no association but are of the opinion that they desperately need one to negotiate with government agencies and fight against the bhatta [protection money] that the police extorts from them.

An association is also necessary to resist pressure from national transporters’ associations, who coerce the Thari transporters to call a strike on their advice. This was not an issue in the past, because the kekras, which the new vehicles replaced, were collectively owned by seths in Umerkot and Naukot. One truck driver pointed out that there was a desperate need for a driving school in Mithi, because people who were learning to drive were dangerous and caused a large number of animal deaths.