Abbasi inaugurates 1st section of CPEC's superhighway

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has inaugurated the first section of the 392-km Multan-Sukkur Motorway, which is the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) On Saturday.

It lies in the country's eastern Punjab province, Multan.

Earlier, Abbasi opened the 33-km section from Multan to Shujaabad city for the public.

As per Xinhua, this six-lane superhighway will connect Karachi with Peshawar through the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

The motorway also called M-5 is expected to reduce the travel distance between Multan and Sukkur from 463 km to 392 km. August 2019 is when the whole project is scheduled to be completed.

This superhighway is going to have 107 underpasses, 188 subways, 100 bridges.

Abbasi said it is the symbol of close cooperation between Pakistan and China.

CPEC would help bring great economic opportunities to Pakistan by connecting and opening up under the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing, on the occasion said it took five years to turn the vision to reality. The Chinese companies working with CPEC have provided Pakistanis with over 100,000 jobs. They have helped restore, establish schools and technical training centers, Yao said.

CPEC is a collection of infrastructure projects that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan. It intends to rapidly modernize Pakistani infrastructure and strengthen its economy by the construction of modern transportation networks, numerous energy projects, and special economic zones.