Sambrial Kharian motorway will reduce the travel distance between Lahore and Rawalpindi by 100 kilometres and save more than an hour of travel time, Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has said.
The minister gave the figures at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He said the shorter route will make journeys between the two cities more efficient for commuters and transport networks.
The minister did not announce a completion date for the motorway during his address. That detail, along with the final cost and toll structure, remains to be confirmed by the government.
Sambrial Kharian motorway: what the minister announced
The headline figures are simple. A journey that now runs through the existing motorway network would be 100 kilometres shorter on the new route. Travellers would save more than an hour.
The minister linked the project to a wider reform effort at the National Highway Authority, which is working to raise its revenue from Rs66 billion to Rs160 billion while capping administrative expenses at Rs50 billion.
He said the authority is prioritising infrastructure development and improving its financial management, so that road construction can go ahead without placing an additional burden on the public exchequer.
The minister also stressed cooperation with the business community. He said officials from the Ministry of Communications, the National Highway Authority and the Motorway Police would hold regular meetings with Lahore Chamber representatives to address concerns affecting trade and industry.
The wider corridor behind the announcement
The minister’s remarks fit into a wider Lahore to Rawalpindi corridor plan that has been moving through approvals this year. The key section is the Kharian to Rawalpindi Motorway, known as M-13.
That section is a 117-kilometre, six-lane motorway linking with the M-11 Lahore to Sialkot Motorway through Kharian and ending at T-Chowk near Rawat, close to Rawalpindi.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the M-13 project in April 2026 at an estimated cost of Rs203.32 billion. It is planned under the Build-Operate-Transfer model, in which a private operator builds and runs the road for a concession period before handing it back.
The Frontier Works Organisation is already involved in the adjoining Lahore to Sialkot and Sialkot to Kharian motorway sections. The National Highway Authority has argued that this continuity would let work start quickly, since the same organisation already knows the corridor.
The new corridor is meant to cut congestion on the existing Lahore to Islamabad Motorway, known as M-2, by giving commuters and freight traffic an alternative high-speed route.
Why the route matters for trade and travel
Lahore and Rawalpindi are two of Punjab’s largest economic centres, and the road between them carries heavy passenger and freight traffic. A shorter route saves fuel, time and vehicle wear, and it opens faster access to Sialkot’s export industries and to the towns along the way.
Road building is also part of a wider infrastructure push in the province. Feature Pakistan reported that Peshawar has cleared more than 450 structures along its Ring Road in an anti-encroachment drive, as cities try to reclaim road space and ease traffic.
For businesses in Lahore, the minister’s promise of regular meetings with the ministry, the highway authority and the Motorway Police is as important as the road itself. Traders have long raised concerns about delays and coordination gaps on national highways, and a standing forum gives them a place to raise those problems.
What is still unclear
Three key details remain open. The minister gave no completion date. He gave no updated cost for the full Sambrial to Kharian to Rawalpindi corridor in his Lahore address. And he gave no toll rates.
The M-13 section’s cost estimate of Rs203.32 billion dates from its April 2026 approval, and commercial arrangements, including financing, concession period and tolling, were still to be finalised under the approved framework at that stage.
Until those details are published, the 100-kilometre saving and the one-hour time saving remain the minister’s stated aims for the route, not a tested journey time. Travellers will be able to judge the claim only once the road opens and the first journeys are timed.
How much distance will the motorway save?
The Sambrial Kharian motorway will reduce the travel distance between Lahore and Rawalpindi by 100 kilometres, according to the communications minister.
