KARACHI: Construction work of the remaining 60 kilometres portion of Hyderabad-Karachi Motorway (M-9) has been completed and its inauguration is likely this month.
According to reports, a 75-kilometre section of the 136 kilometres Karachi-Hyderabad motorway was opened for traffic in February this year while construction on the up gradation of the highway began in March 2015. The contract of the motorway was given to Frontier Works Organization (FWO) under Built Operation Transfer model, which means that the FWO will construct the motorway from its own funds and then recover its cost by operating it.
After 25 years, the FWO will hand the motorway back to the government. The 136km-long motorway starts from Sohrab Goth at Lyari Expressway and ends at the T-Junction of Jamshoro, at a cost of Rs44.2 billion.
According to details, the completed section of M-9 has four interchanges namely Dada Bhoy Interchange, Industrial Valley Interchange, Nooriabad Interchange and Thano Bola Khan Interchange. These interchanges provide access to various areas including Keer Thar National Park, Jhimpeer, Kinjhar Jheel and Thano Ahmed Khan.
In addition, five bridges and two trauma centres at Nooriabad and Damba Goth have also been completed.
The Karachi-Hyderabad motorway is part of the greater Karachi to Lahore motorway, which is spread over 1,152km.