KARACHI: A long-running dispute has once again stalled the expansion of the Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway (M-9).
The conflict is between the Sindh government and the National Highway Authority (NHA), and centres on land transfer and payments. This motorway is one of Sindh’s busiest and most crucial economic arteries. Its importance extends beyond the province, as it is also vital to the entire nation of Pakistan.
At the heart of the controversy lies the NHA’s proposal to widen the existing 264-foot ‘right of way’ (ROW) of the 152-km motorway to 640 feet. This would require thousands of acres of additional government and private land across the districts of Malir, Thatta, and Jamshoro.
According to official correspondence accessed by The News, Sindh officials maintain that while the provincial government approved the reservation of land for the project in 2012, this permission was conditional on the NHA paying the required lease and acquisition costs. The NHA, however, has consistently argued that it lacks the funds to make such payments. Instead, it insists the land must be mutated in its name free of cost as a prerequisite for the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement signed with the Malaysian firm Buraq Puri Holdings Berhad.
In June 2017, Sindh formally revoked its earlier approval, citing the NHA’s failure to meet payment obligations. The dispute was subsequently taken to the courts, with the NHA petitioning the Sindh High Court. In August 2024, the SHC directed both the federal and provincial governments to form a joint committee to resolve the impasse within 30 days.
Following the court’s order, a high-powered committee was formed, comprising senior Board of Revenue officials, the district commissioners of Malir and Jamshoro, and NHA representatives. The committee was tasked with surveying the land and finalising a settlement formula. A survey conducted by the Directorate of Settlement Survey and Land Records confirmed that the current ROW stands at 264 feet. Expanding it to 640 feet would require an additional 7,641 acres: 1,347 acres in Malir district (Karachi), 4,954 acres in Jamshoro, and 1,340 acres in Thatta.
The Sindh Land Utilisation Department has reiterated that, under the law, government land can only be transferred upon payment of lease amounts, while private land must be acquired under the Sindh Land Acquisition Act, 1864. Meanwhile, local landowners have complained of receiving what they describe as “illegal notices” allegedly by NHA officials pressuring them to vacate their properties. Senior Sindh government officials say that, despite multiple rounds of negotiations chaired by the Chief Secretary, the NHA has shown no willingness to commit funds. They warn that the deadlock threatens to indefinitely delay the long-awaited expansion of the motorway.
The NHA, however, contests Sindh’s claims through its official statements, maintaining that the right of way for the Karachi-Hyderabad Superhighway has historically belonged to the federal authority under law.
According to NHA records, the Superhighway was first constructed between 1964 and 1968 with World Bank assistance. The West Pakistan Highways Ordinance, 1959, and its subsequent amendments defined ROW restrictions, with the Sindh Amendment of 1973 setting the limit at 220 feet on one side and 450 feet on the other from the highway’s centreline. In 1991, the NHA dualised the Superhighway into four lanes as part of national infrastructure projects.
