Four ongoing road projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Balochistan’s western zone have recorded Rs54.9 billion in releases and expenditure against a combined allocation of Rs83.2 billion.
CPEC road projects in Balochistan receive Rs 54.9bn in funding
ISLAMABAD, Oct 10 (APP):Four ongoing road projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Balochistan’s western zone have recorded Rs54.9 billion in releases and expenditure against a combined allocation of Rs83.2 billion.
According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the projects, listed under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the period from 2020-21 to 2026-27, cover a combined road length of 718 kilometres.
They include the 146-kilometre Hoshab-Awaran section of the M-8, the 168-kilometre Awaran-Naal section of the M-8, the 106-kilometre Basima-Khuzdar section of the N-30 and the 298-kilometre Zhob-Kuchlak section of the N-50.
According to the document, the Hoshab-Awaran section has an allocation of Rs18.30 billion, against which Rs9.75 billion has been recorded under releases/expenditure.
The Awaran-Naal section has received an allocation of Rs27.28 billion, with Rs20.45 billion shown under releases/expenditure.
For the Basima-Khuzdar N-30 project, Rs12.97 billion has been recorded against an allocation of Rs13.75 billion.
The Zhob-Kuchlak N-50 project has an allocation of Rs23.85 billion, while releases/expenditure stand at Rs11.707 billion.
An analysis of the official figures shows that the combined Rs54.9 billion in releases/expenditure represents approximately 66% of the total Rs83.2 billion allocation.
Among the four projects, the Basima-Khuzdar section has the highest ratio of releases/expenditure to allocation, at approximately 94%, followed by Awaran-Naal at around 75%.
The corresponding ratios are approximately 53% for Hoshab-Awaran and 49% for Zhob-Kuchlak.
The figures also show a difference of approximately Rs28.3 billion between the combined allocations and the amounts recorded under releases/expenditure.
The official document identifies these schemes as ongoing road projects under CPEC in Balochistan’s western zone.
An accompanying CPEC alignment map identifies four principal alignments: Common, Western, Central and Eastern.
According to the map, the Common Alignment extends over 983 kilometres, while the Western Alignment covers 1,511 kilometres. The Central and Eastern alignments extend over 1,440 kilometres and 1,709 kilometres, respectively.
The four Balochistan road projects form part of the wider CPEC road connectivity framework, with the official figures providing a breakdown of their allocations and cumulative releases/expenditure under the stated PSDP period
