New Delhi: Pakistan Wednesday approved plans for a new motorway under the next phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which, if completed, would include the nation’s longest road tunnel.
The proposed 172-km Mansehra-Naran-Jhal Khand-Chilas Motorway, known as the MNJC, would provide an alternative route to the Karakoram Highway, the key to overland trade between Pakistan and China.
The Karakoram Highway links western China to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, and provides a potential alternative to maritime routes through the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest maritime chokepoints, while improving access to energy supplies from West Asia.
The Strait of Malacca links the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea. At its narrowest point near Singapore, the strait is only about 2.8 km wide, yet approximately 90,000 vessels transit it each year. Major export-driven economies such as China and Vietnam rely heavily on the passage to transport manufactured goods to global markets, making it critical to international trade and supply chains.
Under the new project, a 13.5-km tunnel will be constructed beneath Babusar Pass, a high-altitude crossing frequently closed during winter because of heavy snowfall and landslides.
“This network will serve as the fastest, shortest and most cost-effective route from the Arabian Sea to western China,” communications minister Abdul Aleem Khan said during a meeting of the National Highway Authority Tuesday, where the project received formal approval, Radio Pakistan reported.
The motorway would be constructed in two phases. The first would connect Mansehra with Kaghan, Naran and Babusar Top, while the second would extend the route northward to Chilas, where it would reconnect with the Karakoram Highway corridor.
The CPEC, a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has around $65 billion in planned investments aimed at strengthening connectivity between the two countries.
Launched in 2015, the corridor links China’s western Xinjiang region to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea through an extensive network of highways, railways and energy infrastructure spinning more than 3,000 km.
In a joint statement in May, both countries spotlighted the project and mentioned upgrading the highway. China is increasingly eyeing alternative routes amid the West Asia war and the geopolitical turmoil around the Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week called for deeper cooperation with Beijing under what officials have branded ‘CPEC 2.0’, stressing industrial development, mining, information technology and special economic zones.
Moreover, for the first time, the Beijing-Islamabad joint statement explicitly invited third countries to participate in CPEC projects, signalling an effort to broaden the corridor’s investor base and attract additional international capital.
According to Pakistan government data, of the 92 projects under CPEC, 43 projects worth an estimated $24.7 billion have been completed, and 23 others are under implementation. The remaining projects are yet to move beyond the planning and approval stages.
Since the CPEC’s launch in 2015, multiple tunnels have been constructed along the Karakoram Highway, passing through the restive regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In 2018, two major tunnels on the Havelian-Thakot section of the Karakoram Highway were completed as part of a broader modernisation effort. In February this year, engineers finished all seven tunnels associated with the Dasu Highway Project, another key segment of the corridor designed to improve connectivity between northern Pakistan and the Chinese border.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has a weak link, satellite images show