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Friday, October 11, 2024

FWO to be awarded Sialkot-Kharian Motorway contract

After getting approval from Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA), the National Highway Authority would award Sialkot-Kharian Motorway contract to M/S FWO and SMC

The NHA had received three bids from construction firms to construct Sialkot-Kharian Motorway on Public Private Partnership mode. The bids were submitted as a joint venture of Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and SMC Private Limited and a joint venture of Matracon Pakistan Private Limited and Techno Private Limited while the Zahir Khan and Brothers (ZKB) Private Limited also put forward their proposal.

After initial evaluation, all three contestants were declared technically suitable for the project. However, the evaluation of financial proposals of the firms are still under consideration and a final decision would be reached soon.

On Monday, Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar presided over the 12th meeting of the Board of Directors of Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) in Islamabad.

Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Secretary Planning, Secretary Finance, Secretary Communications, Chairman NHA, CEO PPP Authority, and Director General (Debt) Finance Division also attended the meeting during which the transaction structure for the Sialkot–Kharian Motorway project was discussed.

Read More: Karachi Circular to be restored with help from FWO

The attendees were informed by MoC/NHA that the transaction structure as proposed by the winning proponent and as approved by the NHA was in accordance with the structure earlier approved by the board and the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) was within the limits already approved.

The board gave a heads up to the proposed transaction structure subject to codal formalities. The NHA then started negotiations with the preferred consortium of M/S FWO-SMC and finalize the Concession Agreement of the project.

A final decision in this regard would be taken in the executive board meeting of NHA that is going to be held on Tuesday to take a after which a Letter of Intent (LOI) would be provided to the contractor.

Created in 1966 to deal with the mammoth task of constructing the Karakoram Highway (KKH), FWO is the brainchild of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. Since then, FWO has constructed and operationalized a wide variety of development projects in the country, Makran Coastal Highway, M8 highway, Lahore-Sialkot Motorway, Kartarpur Corridor, Road network in erstwhile FATA to name a few. That is why FWO is being considered as the contractor for the Sialkot-Kharian motorway in light of its unmatched experience in similar projects.

The total length of the project is 69km including 60km main motorway, 9km link expressway. The motorway will start from Sambrial Interchange, an end point of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway, and terminate at Kharian on N-5 (GT Road).

The Sialkot-Kharian Motorway traverses major populated areas of Gujrat i.e., Jalalpur Jattan, Peru Shah, Daulat Nagar, Gulyana and terminates near Kotli Bajar where it will be linked via link highway to G.T Road with grade separated interchange.

The federal government has announced Rs41.67 billion as Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for six big road projects in PSDP 2021-22 aimed to attract private investors. Along with the Sialkot-Kharian Motorway, these projects include Rs8 billion for 119km long construction of additional carriageway and rehabilitation of existing carriageway from Balkasar (M-2) to Mianwali, Rs4 billion for 115km long construction of Kharian–Rawalpindi Motorway, Rs10 billion for dualisation & rehabilitation of Karachi-Quetta-Chaman Road, Rs4.5 billion for dualisation & rehabilitation of Mianwali–Muzaffargarh Road, Rs7.16 billion for Hyderabad–Sukkur Motorway (M-6) and Rs8 billion for 69km long Sialkot (Sambrial)–Kharian Motorway.