The M-8 () is an east–west

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, connecting

Sukkur Sukkur is a city in the Pakistani province of Sindh along the western bank of the Indus River, directly across from the historic city of Rohri. Sukkur is the List of cities in Sindh by population, third largest city in Sindh after Karachi and H ...

Larkana Larkana (; ) is a city located in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It is the 15th largest city of Pakistan by population. It is home to the Indus Valley civilization site Mohenjo-daro. The historic Indus River flows in east and south of the ci ...

Gwadar Gwadar (, ) is a Port, port city on the southwestern coast of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, opposite Oman and has a populati ...

. The motorway is partly currently under-construction, while the 193 kilometre stretch between Gwadar and Hoshab was inaugurated in February 2016. A timeline for the completion of the motorway is not available due to the difficult terrain in which the motorway is being constructed.

Route

The Ratodero Gwadar Motorway (M-8) will start from Ratodero in Sindh Province and enter Balochistan Province passing near the towns of

Khuzdar Khuzdar ( Balochi, , ) also known as ''Hozdar'', is a city and the administrative headquarters of Khuzdar District in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Khuzdar is surrounded by mountainous region of the southwestern portion of the country near ...

Awaran Awaran ( Balochi and ) is the main city of Awaran District in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. Besides serving as the district headquarters, the city is also the tehsil headquarters and a Union Council. Geography Awaran is situated in t ...

, Hoshab,

Turbat Turbat (Urdu and ) is a city in the southern region of Balochistan province of Pakistan. It is the administrative centre of Kech District. Turbat is the second-largest city in Balochistan after Quetta and the 35th largest city in the coun ...

before joining the

Makran Coastal Highway The N-10 or National Highway 10 (Urdu: ) is a 653 km national highway in Pakistan which extends along Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast from Karachi in Sindh province to Gwadar in Balochistan province. It passes the towns of Ormara and Pasni ...

just east of the port city of

. The M8 will cross the

Dasht River The Dasht River () is located in the Makran region and Gwadar District, in the southwestern section of Balochistan Province, Pakistan which drains near Jiwani. Tributaries The Kech River which flows through Kech valley is the eastern tributary o ...

and pass near the

Mirani Dam Mirani Dam () is on the Dasht River, south of the Central Makran Range in Kech District in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Its reservoir is fed by the Kech and the Nihing rivers, which join at Mirani Dam to form the Dasht River. Mirani Dam w ...

in Balochistan Province. The M8 will have 4-lanes and a total length of 892 km. Initially, 2-lanes will be constructed after the completion of which another 2-lanes will be added, thus making a total of 4-lanes.

Construction

The M8 is being constructed by Pakistan's

National Highway Authority The National Highway Authority (NHA; ) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Communications of Pakistan. History In 1978, the Government of Pakistan federalised five important inter-provincial roads and named them ''National Highways''. Th ...

. Construction of the M8 commenced on 15 October 2004. According to a newspaper report of 23 July 2015, the construction arm of Pakistan Army,

Frontier Works Organisation The Frontier Works Organization (); abbreviated as FWO), is a military engineering organization, and one of the major science and technology commands of the Pakistan Army. Commissioned and established in 1966, the FWO includes active duty office ...

(FWO) has completed 502 of 870 kilometres of this road. The work started simultaneously from the junction with the

(MCH) and from Ratodero in Sindh. As of January 2015 the road is completed except for some bridges from MCH to a point near Hoshab where it joins N85 (Hoshab-Panjgur-Besima Highway) and Hoshab-Bela Road. The M8 Motorway will be following the alignment of N85. From the Ratodero end M8 to Khuzdar is completed and operational except for a difficult section going over the peaks of northern Kirthar range about 70 km east of Khuzdar.

CPEC

M8 motorway is part of CPEC central route. Half of the motorway from Gwadar to Hoshab is operational with two lanes. The other two lanes will be added after M8 is fully operational. The motorway is operated by NHA & FWO. On 16 July 2020, ECNEC awarded Rs26bn for 146 km Hoshab-Awaran-Khuzdar Section.

Junctions

Images

References

External links

National Highway Authority

Pakistan National Highways & Motorway Police
M08 Proposed roads in Pakistan China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Roads in Balochistan, Pakistan {{Pakistan-road-stub