By Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Monday unveiled five-year package for Balochistan road network amounting to Rs60 billion. The package was announced by NHA Chairman Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed at a press briefing held at the authority’s headquarters.
He said that local people would also be involved in the process. "But we have no need to seek the consent of Baloch tribal leaders for commissioning the development work," he added.
When asked about the deteriorating law an order situation in Balochistan, the official acknowledged that the situation was quite unfavourable for development activities but the NHA would complete all its projects in time.
The NHA, he said, would provide 20 per cent jobs in the development package to the people of Balochistan.
He said the NHA had been executing Rs20 billion road development work in Balochistan and in the next five years Rs50 to Rs60 billion would be spent on the rods in the province.
Mr Javed said the government had already increased the NHA’s share for Balochistan in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). "It was Rs300 million in 2000-01 but now it is Rs1.4 billion," he added.
He said that the NHA had been collecting only one per cent of its total toll tax earning from Balochistan. "The total toll tax earning from all over the country is about Rs5 billion and only Rs3 million is being collected from Balochistan," he added.
After the briefing, the NHA signed three agreements with contractors SKB and HCL for the improvement and construction of 240-km National Highway (N-25) from Kalat to Quetta and onward to Chaman.
The project’s estimated cost is Rs6.644 billion. However, the NHA chief said that it would go up to Rs8 billion by the time of its completion.
The NHA chairman said the road would provide access from Karachi, Gwadar and Chaman to the Central Asian States, Jalalabad and Kandahar.
About other roads being constructed in Balochistan, he said the work on National Highway (N-65) from Quetta to Sukkur via Sibbi and Jaccobabad was in progress and at completion it would reduce the travelling time from Quetta to Sukkur by one hour.
He said the National Highway (N-70) was also being constructed from Qila Saifullah to Chaman via Loralai. The Coastal Highway, he added, had been completed by the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) while another 96-km highway from Gwadar to Hoshab was under construction.
The NHA chairman said the authority had decided that all the national highways in the country should have same specification with a view to construct similar roads. "Earlier four lanes were proposed for the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway, but I revised the plan and now like other motorways in the country, it will also have six lanes and the cost of the project will go up from Rs12 billion to Rs14 billion," he said.
BHASHA DAM: The NHA chief said that according to the plan of the proposed Bhasha Dam, about 142-km Karakuram Highway (N-35) would submerge in the dam water.
The alignment of the road, he said, would be redesigned and the project cost would be met under Bhasha Dam’s funds and a soft loan offered by China.
GRAND TRUNK ROAD: He said that the Grand Truck Road from Karachi to Torkham was 9,518 km while the length of total roads in the country was 200,000 km.
"The GT Road is bearing 65 per cent load of the country’s traffic. This is the reason that some parts of the road are always under repair," he said.
Mr Javed said the authority would start reconstruction of the GT Road from Lahore to Gujranwala in March. "It would also be a six-lane road," he added.
Similarly, he said, the GT Road from Turnol to Hassanabdal via Taxila would be re-carpeted soon.
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