File photo of a highway near Islamabad, Pakistan [Photo: Xinhua]

China Railway Construction Corporation has said that it has secured a 9 billion yuan or 1.5 billion U.S. dollar contract, together with a Pakistani company to build a highway in Pakistan.

The company said it would team up with a construction firm to build an over one thousand kilometer section of a highway between Karachi and Lahore in southeastern Pakistan.

The deal corresponds with agreements signed earlier between China and Pakistan under a framework called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

A free trade zone in the Gwadar port of southwestern Pakistan will also be set up jointly by China and the country.