The Sukkur–Multan motorway (M5) in Pakistan, which connects the city of Sukkur in northern Sindh with the city of Multan in southern Punjab, opened in 2019. In this report, the authors examine the private and social effects that the M5 has had on the two cities’ religious tourism sectors since its opening. Using key business performance indicators (KBPIs), the authors assess selected components of the religious tourism supply chain through in-person interviews with regional service providers. The authors then aggregated provider responses to infer key social performance indicators and compare them with national averages. Through this research, the authors seek to understand how new supply chains develop around a transport corridor and affect the value added at each node of the supply chain. 

The authors found that positive private and social benefits resulted in both cities from the reshaping of the supply chain with the opening of the M5. Specifically, private benefits include an increase in access provided by the motorway, investments in online services, and specialization within the supply chain. The public benefits of the M5 include an improvement in the economic growth of the Sukkur and Multan districts relative to the country and an improvement in the economic growth of the poorer city, Sukkur, relative to that of Multan.