20000403

M-3 contractors awarded Toll collection of GT Road section

AMER SIAL

ISLAMABAD: The Government has approved the recommendation of National Highway Authority to give the revised comfort to the concessionaire of M-3, in the form of toll collection rights of Lahore-Rawalpindi portion of N-5 {G.T Road}.

Official sources said that the toll collection award to the concessionaire of Faisalabad-Pindi Bhattian motorway {M-3} has been given for a period of five years and the project would be completed in 18 months after financial close is achieved.

The project at the start was estimated to be built at a cost of Rs 7.2 billion on build, operate and transfer {BOT} basis. The share of NHA was estimated at Rs 2.2 billion, which was given to the concessionaire in form of road building machinery worth Rs 2 billion and by acquisition of land for the project.

The contractors of M-3 were to generate Rs 5 billion through their own sources and which they initially found difficult to achieve, but the work continued. Due to the lack of funds work on the project was halted after completion of eight percent of work.

The NHA suggested to the Punjab government that toll collection rights on Jhang-Chinniot road be given to the concessionaire to generate funds for the completion of motorway by showing that as security to the banks. However the previous Punjab government opposed it and the provincial bureaucracy continued opposing it under the new government.

Under the pressure of donors, NHA had already awarded the operation and management contracts of N-5 {G.T road} to the subsidiary organisations of army. In these situations the solution was to hand over the toll collection operations to the contractors of M-3, which is a federal road.

At present National Logistic Cell has the O and M contract for the Lahore-Peshawar section of N-5. NLC is earning Rs 1 million daily from only the five toll collection points on the bridges at the Lahore-Rawalpindi section excluding onwards points to Peshawar. However, sources said that NLC would continue to the main contractor while the concessionaires would collected toll till the financial close is obtained.