Pak NHA will soon invite offers for M-9 Super Highway

Islamabad: National Highway Authority (NHA) will soon float new tenders for conversion of Super Highway between Karachi and Hyderabad into six-lane Motorway (M-9), a source in NHA informed APP here on Tuesday.

The NHA had signed a concession agreement for the construction of 136km project, with the Standard Construction firm in September 2006 but the contractor failed to arrange equity and bank guarantee in time despite grant of six-week extra time.

After expiry of the extra time the bank guaranteed of the contract was scrapped, the source added. 'Present road link between Karachi and Hyderabad known as Super Highway is a four-lane divided highway and is the most important link of Karachi Port and Port Qasim to rest of the country. With the construction of Gwadar Port, it is envisaged that the traffic on this route will increase manifold,' the source said.