The approval for the Multan-Sukkur Motorway (M-5) was granted in July 2014,[6] with an estimated cost of Rs. 200 billion (equivalent to US$2.5 billion in 2023).[7] In May 2016, the Pakistani government awarded the contract to build this section to China State Construction Engineering,[3] with the completion date being August 2019.[3] Former Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif performed the groundbreaking on 6 May 2016,[8] while the actual ground work started in August 2016.
The M-5 motorway project forms a cornerstone of the much-larger China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.[9] Construction covered 21 Chinese residential camps and 23 Pakistani workers camps with hundreds of working sites, directly providing jobs to nearly 30,000 Pakistanis at peak time.[10] The motorway was inaugurated on 5 November 2019 in the 9th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting in Islamabad.[11]
Cost and financing
The total cost of the motorway was estimated to be around $2.89 billion.[5]The Multan–Sukkur Motorway (M-5) cost approximately $2.94 billion, with the bulk of financing financed by various Chinese state-owned banks.[12] 90% of the project's cost was financed through concessionary loans on interest rates of 1.6% from China, while the remaining balance is financed by government of Pakistan.[13]
