ADB and AIIB to Provide $688 Million for Road Construction in Punjab

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will provide a $688.92 million loan for the Punjab Arterial Roads Improvement Programme (PARIP). The project to be implemented in nine districts of Punjab will cost a total of $773.20 million. ADB and AIIB will share 50 percent and 39.1 percent of the cost respectively. The Government of Punjab will contribute the remaining 10.9 percent of the cost, official documents available with ProPakistani reveal. The ADB will provide $386.60 million, the AIIB will provide $302.32 million while the Government of Punjab will provide $84.28 million for the project. The Government of Punjab has planned to dualize and rehabilitate four provisional highways with the support of ADB and AIIB. The project aims to improve the transportation system through up­gradation and dualization of highway network which will increase connectivity in trade and communication. The districts that have been nominated include Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Layyah, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Vehari, Okara, Pakpattan and Sahiwal. The project will be completed in 63 months and envisages the construction of 535km of dual carriageway highway sections between various cities in Punjab. The scope of the project includes rehabilitation of the existing carriageway and construction of a new second carriageway within the available Right of Way (RoW). The project has been divided into four corridors. The 207km Corridor-1 covers Chichawatnl – Rajana/Pir Mahal – Chowk Azam – Layyah, the 103km Corridor-2 covers M-4 Chiragabad Interchange – Jhang –Shorkot, the 150km Corridor-3 covers Depalpur- Pakpattan Shareef -Vehari Road, while the Corridor-4 which is 75km long will cover Hasilpur and Bahawalnagar Road.