A four-lane road linking Faisalabad to Multan is under construction. One complete, this part of the National Trade Corridor will help connect Pakistan's deep seaports with landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Transcript
Central Pakistan.
A four-lane motorway is being built from Faisalabad to Multan. The M-4 project is part of Pakistan's National Trade Corridor highway network.
SOT: Zameer Hussain
Resident, Charaghanahad village
"Before the motorway, our village was quite deprived and backward. Since the construction of the M-4, our village has become prosperous."
SOT: Chaudhry Yasin
Resident, Charaghanahad village
"Because of the motorway, we now have gas in our village and housing societies are coming up. All this development and construction work is also providing jobs for us. As well as the financial capacity to upgrade our own homes."
SOT: Zameer Hussain
Resident, Charaghanahad village
"In fact, people from other areas are coming and looking to settle here."
SOT: Muhammad Saeed
President, Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry
"Geographically speaking, Faisalabad is situated in central Pakistan. At its north end, it connects with major cities via the M-2 and M-3. M-4 is going to connect it to the south. The road will be a vital link between the north and south of Pakistan, reducing the existing distance by almost 250 kilometers."
SOT: Zameer Hussain
Resident, Charaghanahad village
"Before the motorway, it took us a day and a half to reach Islamabad. To go to Lahore it would take us the whole day, costing us more in both time and money. Now we can reach Lahore in just three hours and Islamabad takes us only six hours to reach."
SOT: Iqra Qadeer
Student, GC University, Faisalabad
"Roads connect different cities, different countries of the world. As we are connecting towards [the Republic of] China, it will increase our exports and imports. As our exports will increase, our revenues also increase, which will be beneficial for us. So, roads are connections between cities and countries, which is beneficial to the economy of our country."
The 60-km Faisalabad to Gorja section has already been completed and is open to traffic.
SOT: Sajjad Ahmed Goraya
General Manager M-4 project, National Highway Authority
"M-4 is 184 kilometers long between Faisalabad and Khanewal, while the entire M-4 once constructed will be from Faisalabad to Multan. The Faisalabad to Khanewal stretch is being built with the assistance of ADB."
The Asian Development Bank has provided $146 million for this section of the road that will benefit more than 2 million people.
SOT: Werner Liepach
Country Director, ADB Pakistan Resident Mission
"Pakistan has tremendous potential to be a transit country, particularly for Central Asia. But that of course requires that the transport infrastructure is upgraded. We have a major initiative which is called the National Trade Corridor Highway Improvement Project, and that includes the M-4. ADB is financing this. But not only are we financing the road, we are actually also doing some economic work, for instance, to see what is the economic impact of the road."
Once the M-4 is complete, this part of the National Trade Corridor will connect Pakistan's deep seaports with landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asia.
