ISLAMABAD: The Sukkur-Multan section of the Peshawar-Karachi Motorway being constructed under CPEC has vitalized the local economy and benefited the people in the area.
The motorway has a design speed of 120 km per hour, and it is a two-way six-lane road stretched from Sukkur, a city in Sindh province, to Multan, a city in Punjab province, People’s Daily Online reported here on Wednesday.
The project, being completed by the engineers of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) alongside local Pakistanis, has promoted private sector development and small and micro businesses in the local area and regions along the route.
A Chinese manager said the building materials such as gravel and cement were bought from local companies, accelerating the industrial chain cycle. The construction corporation also worked with local companies to exploit natural resources, facilitating related industries such as transportation and sales.
The project officially started in the year 2016 has created job opportunities for graduates and specialized workers including 26-year-old Salman who came from a small town 130 kilometers away from Multan. After graduation, he applied for a job in the project.
With excellent English and professional skills, he was hired to lead about 1,000 Pakistani workers. A lot of Pakistani workers like Salman realized their potential in the construction project.
The motorway has created 23,000 positions, including administrative staff and senior technical workers. It has also helped create more than 40,000 jobs through the development of related industries.
The project has trained 4,500 machine operators and 2,300 administrators and technicians for Pakistan so far.
The CSCEC has sent a medical team to provide free services for 3,900 local people and has also built nine schools in Pakistan.
The project is expected to be completed by June 2019. By then, the distance from Sukkur to Multan will be shortened from 463 kilometers to 392 kilometers, and the travel time halved from 8 hours to 4 hours.
The Multan-Sukkur motorway is part of Peshawar-Karachi Motorway. This route starts from Karachi via Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Islamabad, Lahore, and other cities, and ends in Peshawar with a total length of 1,152 kilometers.
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