NHA plans to widen 68km N-65 Indus Carriageway

Faisalabad: The National Highway Authority (NHA) prepared a Plan to widen the existing 68 km carriageway of Indus Highway N-65 from Sukkur to Jacobabad and approached Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Multi-tranche Financing Facility for the National Highway Development Sector Investment Programme, (Project-2).

According to NHA sources, the prime objective of the proposed Project is to facilitate people with comfortable movement and easy goods transportation in the Project Area and between Sindh and Balochistan Provinces by providing better access and enhance the efficiency of the existing road network.

The Project for upgrading a single carriageway into a four-lane dual carriageway, will involve some negative environmental impacts, which are mostly related to pre-construction and construction stages of the Project and are however manageable by properly implementing the EMP.

No long-term and significant adverse environmental impacts are however envisaged for the operation stage of the Project. Hence, the Project is environmentally feasible, provided that the mitigation measures are properly implemented during the Project execution, NHA official said.

Further the official said that the NHA wants to widen the existing carriageway of Indus Highway N-65 from Sukkur to Jacobabad. As per Government of Pakistans regulations, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study is required for construction of all new roads worth Rupees 50 million and above.

The NHA report further revealed that Sukkur to Jacobabad Section of N-65 is a very important Road Section, as it passes through three districts of Sukkur, Shikarpur and Jacobabad of Sindh Province and links it with Punjab and Balochistan. The existing two-lane road is insufficient for the inter-provincial transport needs of present population of the Project Area.

Currently, everyday on an average, 6,221 vehicles pass through Sukkur-Shikarpur Section and 4,563 vehicles pass through Shikarpur-Jacobabad Section, the report said. It is estimated that by the year 2011, there will be approximately 8,326 vehicles passing through Sukkur-Shikarpur Section and 6,106 through Shikarpur-Jacobabad Section everyday.

To meet the requirements of increasing traffic volume, the NHA planned to upgrade the existing road into four-lane dual carriageway. Length of the road section from Sukkur to Jacobabad is 68 Km, including a proposed Bypass at Shikarpur, sources added.

According to project report, the construction and up-gradation of N-65 (including a new bypass at Shikarpur) will provide improved highway route to be utilised by the travellers of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan Provinces. After the construction of the dual carriageway, the economic and commercial activities of the Project Area will get a considerable boost.

According to the Traffic Projection Survey, it is estimated that in the future years more and more people will be using the N-65 (Sukkur - Jacobabad Section). According to the survey, total daily traffic is increasing at a rate of 6percent per year. Without the proposed Project, the existing road from Sukkur to Jacobabad (N-65) will continue to be the main transportation corridor in the area. Traffic volume on the existing N-65 (National Highway) is anticipated to increase with the passage of time, as indicated from the traffic projection survey.