Work on the 136-kilometre-long Karachi-Hyderabad motorway known as M- 9 started on 19 November after the award of a $217 million contract to a consortium led by the local Fauji Foundation. Other partners are UK-based Westminster Project Management and Qais Bin Tariq of Oman.

The project is being developed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The contractor will operate the toll road for 25 years after which it will be handed over to the client, the National Highway Authority. The six-lane dual carriageway is scheduled to be completed in two years.

Several restaurants, rest areas, petrol stations and other facilities are also to be built alongside the new motorway. Hyderabad is the second biggest city in Sind province after Karachi.

Two of the consortium partners, Westminster and Qais, are also responsible for collecting tolls on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway.

BOT bids have been invited by 15 January for M-10, the 68-kilometre Karachi northern bypass (see Tenders).