Danial Khan
Qaisar, a 34-year-old Pakistani employee, is an assistant commercial & mechanical engineer on the CSCEC PKM project (Sukkur-Multan section).
He not only personally participated in the construction of the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the PKM Motorway project, but also became a real beneficiary of it.
The construction of PKM motorway started on August 5, 2016.
“I studied in China for 5 years, and I admired China’s development speed and prosperity. China and Pakistan are brothers who have been friendly from generation to generation. I hope they can help us develop rapidly.” Qaisar said.
The motorway starts from Sukkur, the transportation hub of Sindh Province in the south, and reaches Multan, the economic center of Punjab Province in the north, opening up the main north to south transportation artery in central Pakistan.
Under the principle of strict quality assurance, the China State Construction Engineering Corporation team planned a high-standard of construction and management.
Qaisar says, “After joining the PKM team, his Chinese colleagues enthusiastically shared their work experience with him and helped him learn professional knowledge, which allowed him to grow rapidly. He combined these knowledge and experience with his language advantage, and finally played an important role in helping the project resolve difficult works, such as land acquisition and expropriation issue, finding earth and rock resources. During that period.”
Over 30,000 Chinese and Pakistani employees overcame various difficulties such as severe security and pandemic, lack of resources, high temperature and heat, and made every effort to implement this project, enabling this nearly 400-kilometer motorway to be completed and put into use in just three years.
As the first motorway with an intelligent transportation system in Pakistan, all functions of the PKM project, such as toll collection system and signal management have been fully electronic and automated, which officially opened the first year of modernization and informatization of Pakistan’s motorway. The National Highway Authority of Pakistan praised the project, saying it has set a model for the construction of motorways in Pakistan.
In Qaisar’s hometown, he and his family own more than 160 acres of mango orchards, which are the most important local cash crops and the basis for the survival of hundreds of thousands of fruit farmers.
When it comes to harvest season, fruit farmers will use trucks to transport mangoes to Karachi, a southern port city 900 kilometers away, for sale.
Before the construction of the PKM motorway, mangoes could not be shipped out in large scale when they were ripe, and the farmers could only watch it rot in the ground.
But Qaisar says that “after the opening of PKM motorway, the road is spacious and fast, and the delivery time has been greatly shortened by 7 hours, which not only saves the cost of fruit farmers, but also doubles the income from selling fruit. Now the villagers are getting better and better. Many families have built new houses and purchased new cars.
A total of 335,800 trees have been planted on this 392-kilometer-long motorway, and the green area on both sides of the road is equivalent to 775 football fields, bringing vitality to this arid and barren saline-alkali land.
This project has become a typical demonstration of China-Pakistan friendly cooperation, which not only greatly improved Pakistan’s traffic conditions, but also directly drove the social and economic development of the areas along the route, benefiting the Pakistan people.
CSCEC entered the Pakistan market in 1984, and has gone through more than 30 years of history. It has successively undertaken a large number of landmark projects, such as the JF-17 fighter jet manufacturing factory, Islamabad New International Airport Terminal building and the PKM motorway.
While carrying out business in the local area, CSCEC also actively fulfilled its social responsibilities, extensively carried out public welfare activities such as digging wells and repairing canals, and helping students, boosting local employment through project construction and driving the development of surrounding industries.
The PKM project has been completed, but the purpose of CSCEC to build Pakistan and serve the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will continue.
The company says it will continue to work hand in hand with Pakistan, deepen investment cooperation, and contribute to the prosperity and development of Pakistan, make more contributions for the benefit of Pakistani people.
