NHA, Privatisation Commission explore four motorway projects under public-private partnership

Pakistan’s National Highway Authority, the Privatisation Commission and the Public Private Partnership Authority have examined four proposed motorway and expressway schemes for possible private-sector financing. At a meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday, officials reviewed their commercial prospects and financial viability, including a 169-kilometre M-10 section and a route connecting Mansehra, Naran, Jhal Khand and Chilas.

Other proposals cover the Guru Nanak Expressway and an extension of the Murree Expressway into Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan asked the NHA to prepare a business plan and identify projects suitable for private investment, while the commission and P3A offered support with assessments. The participants plan to complete initial technical work and meet again within a week; Khan also set out an ambition to make the NHA financially self-sustaining, with a valuation of Rs500 billion to Rs1 trillion.