Only 63 percent land acquisition completed so far. Forest land and other such issues came up during a meeting chaired by Commissioner Hyderabad.
From Our Correspondent
Hyderabad
Construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway (M-6) through Public Private Partnership (PPP), conceived in the year 2016 is inordinate delay as the concerned authorities in Sindh have so far failed to resolve the issue of acquiring the land required for execution of project.
The project encompasses construction of 306-km green-field controlled access motorway at a cost of Rs.307 billion. The M-6 will be a 6-lane motorway with a design speed of 120 km/hour.
During a recent meeting held in Islamabad it was informed that M-6 is the only missing link between country’s north-south (Peshawar-Karachi) bound motorway networks. “All the other segments of 1650 km Peshawar Karachi Motorway have been completed except Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway section.”
According to certain reports only 63% land acquisition has been completed.
The issue of land acquisition was again discussed on Wednesday June 22 in a meeting chaired by Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad Nadeem-ur-Rehman Memon who directed the officers of National Highway Authority to take concrete steps for resolving land acquisition issues related to construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway without delay.
The meeting was specially called to review the land acquisition and other issues related to construction of Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway. Such meetings were held several times by the successive Divisional Commissioners.
Commissioner Nadeem said that the land of Forest Department was also an issue for the construction of Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway for which a legal way should be taken for its solution.
He also reviewed the ongoing construction work of roads 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 said that all the issues would be got resolved up to July 15, 2022. Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, Deputy Commissioner Matiari Adnan Rashid and other concerned officers attended the meeting.
It may be recalled that the Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) Board during its 20th meeting in February this year in Islamabad had approved the project proposals for the construction of Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway on Public Private Partnership PPP basis. The board had considered proposal of the successful bidder which had demanded provision of capital Viability Gap Funding (VGF) amounting to Rs.9.5 billion.
Last week, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif had also directed the authorities concerned to immediately start construction work on Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway project. He issued directives while chairing a review meeting on the progress of ongoing construction projects of National Highway Authority (NHA).
Earlier, the Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, had also reprimanded National Highway Authority (NHA) officials over delays in the construction of the Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway. A two-member bench, comprising Justice Amjad Ali Sahito and Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi, was hearing the plea over delays in the construction of Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway and routine accidents on Jamshoro-Sehwan road.
_________________
