Punjab on a Motorway Binge
July 2025
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The Board of Directors of the Public Private Partnership Authority (P3A) in its 39th session held in July 2025, has decided to upgrade the under-construction M-12 motorway, also known as Sialkot-Kharian motorway to a six-lane highway. This 69-km long stretch of highway project was initiated in July 2022, but has faced several delays and escalations. The latest change to the plan for the highway was made on advice of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a federal investment promotion agency reporting directly to the Prime Minister.
In addition, the board also approved a new motorway from Kharian-Rawalpindi known as M-13. The new motorway will be 117.6 km long. It will be a six-lane greenfield expressway which is estimated to cost at Rs. 202.61 billion including Rs. 40 billion as Viability Gap Funding (VGF). For reference, VGF is financing provided by government to make a project financially viable for private sector participation.
The Kharian-Rawalpindi motorway (M13) is to be constructed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, with contract for the project to be awarded through an international competitive bidding.
Sources:
https://bloompakistan.com/punjab-approves-two-major-motorway-projects/
