PAKISTAN: Investors courted for toll road concession

06 March 1998
NEWS

The government is to hold preliminary discussions with private investors concerning a concession agreement to operate the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway. The National Highway Authority (NHA) has asked companies to submit expressions of interest by 15 April.

NHA will draw up a list of prequalified companies which will be invited to hold talks with the government prior to submitting detailed proposals.

The appointed operator will finance, own, operate, insure and maintain the motorway, recouping investment through charging tolls. The 154-kilometre road is being built by Turkey's Bayindir under a $500 million contract awarded in 1997. Completion is scheduled for December 2000. However, two sections totalling 80 kilometres will be available for operation as a toll road by December 1999, NHA says.

NHA is to award a similar concession for the operation of the recently completed Lahore-Islamabad motorway. It has issued a letter of intent for the project to the UK-based Paktoll consortium. For other roads, including the Faisalabad-Multan and Lahore-Faisalabad motorways, the authority hopes to award concessions which will cover construction as well as operation (MEED 16:1:98).

A MEED Subscription...

Subscribe or upgrade your current MEED.com package to support your strategic planning with the MENA region’s best source of business information. Proceed to our online shop below to find out more about the features in each package.