Stalled Progress, Stalled Economy

Sindh's M6 Motorway Mired in Delays and Broken Promises

nasiraijaz June 12, 2025

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Eight years after its launch, the M6 Motorway – envisioned as a transformative artery for Sindh and a critical link in Pakistan’s national corridor – languishes as a stark symbol of systemic failures

As Sindh waits, the M6 serves as a daily reminder: until these systemic issues are decisively addressed, Pakistan’s road to progress will remain frustratingly under construction.

ZAIB U REHMAN

Eight years after its launch with grand fanfare, the M6 Motorway – envisioned as a transformative artery for Sindh and a critical link in Pakistan’s national corridor – languishes as a stark symbol of systemic failures within the nation’s flagship Public Sector Development Program (PSDP). Conceived in 2016 as a 306-kilometre, six-lane lifeline connecting Sukkur to Hyderabad and completing the vital Karachi-Peshawar Motorway (KPM), the Rs.300 billion project promised to revolutionize travel, boost trade, and integrate Sindh’s remote regions. Instead, it stands as a monument to bureaucratic inertia, funding shortfalls, and poor governance, with only 30% of construction completed against an initial 2022 deadline and a now-doubtful revised target of 2025.

A Dream Deferred, An Economy Hamstrung

Touted as a cornerstone of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Phase II, the M6 was intended to reduce travel times, facilitate freight movement, and unlock significant economic potential. However, the project quickly encountered headwinds. Chronic underfunding, rooted in the PSDP’s over-reliance on unpredictable federal allocations, has been a primary culprit. Despite the project’s estimated price tag of approximately PKR 300 billion ($1.07 billion), yearly disbursements since 2020 have consistently fallen short, creating crippling funding gaps.

The PSDP allocates funds on paper, but the reality is slow and insufficient disbursements, according to a National Highway Authority (NHA) official involved in the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “This stop-and-go funding isn’t just frustrating; it disrupts construction, forces contractors to demobilize, and inflates costs significantly due to delays and inflation. We’re trapped in a cycle.

Planning Missteps Fuel Conflict and Delay

Compounding the financial woes were fundamental flaws in planning and execution. The project was hampered from the outset by a delayed feasibility study and subsequent, contentious last-minute route changes. This triggered a protracted and painful land acquisition process. A critical failure to engage meaningfully with local communities sparked widespread opposition and entangled the project in lengthy legal battles over fair compensation.

Land acquisition became an absolute nightmare, confessed a senior official close to the project. Disputes over compensation and the ensuing legal fights brought work to a standstill for months on end. Further delays piled on as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), a crucial safeguard, were either conducted belatedly or deemed inadequate by environmental watchdogs, adding another layer of complexity and criticism.

Execution Woes and the Shadow of Politics

The National Highway Authority (NHA), tasked with delivering the project, faces intense scrutiny over its oversight and contractor management. Reports indicate that contracts were awarded without rigorous pre-qualification, leading to disputes, sluggish mobilization by contractors, and, in some instances, the outright abandonment of work sites. Adding another destabilizing factor has been the volatility of national politics. With each change in government in Islamabad, development priorities have shifted, leaving long-term projects like the M6 stranded in policy limbo, highlighting the PSDP’s vulnerability to politicization rather than being guided by consistent, performance-based planning.

A Symptom of a Wider Malaise

The struggles of the M6 are depressingly familiar. It mirrors the fate of other PSDP megaprojects in Sindh, such as the perpetually delayed and mismanaged Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD). Intended to address critical waterlogging and salinity issues affecting agriculture, the RBOD now stands as another testament to systemic failures: poor initial evaluation, weak monitoring during implementation, and a glaring lack of accountability that renders billions of public investments ineffective.

The Road Ahead: Urgent Reforms Imperative

With the pressure mounting to meet the already extended 2025 deadline, infrastructure experts and stakeholders argue that fundamental reforms must be embedded in the upcoming PSDP 2025–26 budget cycle to prevent the M6 saga from repeating elsewhere:

Rigorous Oversight and Accountability: Implement stringent, independent project evaluation and real-time monitoring mechanisms at both the federal and provincial levels, ensuring transparency and consequences for delays or mismanagement.
Financial Diversification & Stability: Actively pursue and incentivize Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to lessen the unsustainable burden on the federal budget and guarantee stable, long-term funding. Introduce multi-year budgeting with legally guaranteed disbursement schedules for large-scale infrastructure.
Fair and Efficient Land Acquisition: Establish a transparent, standardized, and equitable national land acquisition framework that prioritizes early community consultation and fair compensation to prevent costly legal disputes and foster local support.
Seamless Coordination: Mandate and enforce robust coordination protocols between the NHA, provincial governments (especially Sindh in this case), and local stakeholders to create a collaborative environment essential for smooth execution.

Conclusion: More Than Asphalt Unlaid

The unfinished expanse of the M6 Motorway represents far more than missing asphalt and bridges. It embodies the high cost of broken promises to the people of Sindh and the nation. Its delays stall not just vehicles, but economic growth, regional development, and public trust in the state’s ability to deliver critical infrastructure. “The M6 is a painful lesson,” stated an infrastructure policy analyst. “Robust planning, consistent funding, genuine stakeholder engagement, and unwavering accountability aren’t optional extras; they are the absolute bedrock for any development ambition to succeed.” As Sindh waits, the M6 serves as a daily reminder: until these systemic issues are decisively addressed, Pakistan’s road to progress will remain frustratingly under construction.