Islamabad: A joint venture (JV) of China’s Ningxia Communications Construction Co Ltd (NXCC) and Pakistan’s Rustam Associates has won the construction contract of the Package-2 of Gilgit-Shandoor Road, news sources reported on January 24. The said JV bid the lowest price of PKR 10.24 billion for the construction of the project’s 70-kilometre stretch.
According to sources, the said infrastructure is part of a 216-kilometre-long road network known as the Gilgit-Shandur-Chitral Road, which has been proposed as an alternative route for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). A total of 5 firms participated in the bidding process, with the highest bid of PKR 15 billion placed. The initiative was authorised by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in June of last year and will be supported by the federal government through the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
The Gilgit-Chitral Road will be open all year, especially during the winter, when heavy snowfall obstructs motor movement on the present Silk Route. The road runs through some of the country’s most remote and impoverished areas and is intended to usher in a new era of development in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Nauman Ahmad is an imaginative Pisces whose love for literature and nature is unparalleled. When he's not reading or hiking, he's sleeping and eating, which gives him plenty of energy for his next adventure.
