ISLAMABAD: The federal government is considering a proposal to chalk out a comprehensive plan for ensuring the security of the newly-constructed highways in the country.
As per recommendation proposed by communication ministry, security necessities, including —the logistics and equipment support needed by police — should be outlined in PC-I of the highway projects so that they could be made functional as soon as they are completed.
The ministry has proposed that logistics and equipment support for highways must be preplanned and laid down in the PC-I before the construction of the highways in order to avoid unnecessary delays.
The National Highway Authority (NHA) has been facing problems in ensuring the functioning of their projects because of delays in the deployment of police logistics and equipment.
A 392-kilometer motorway extending from Multan to Sukkur has been facing the same issue because of which the NHA has not opened the road for the general public.
A few weeks ago, a Senate standing committee was told by the NHA officials that they do not have an adequate number of motorway police to accommodate to the security needs of the newly-constructed roads. Even though, the motorway police are facing pressure to provide security for Multan-Sukkur motorway.
There is a shortage of police officers for the security of different highways and motorways due to which it has become a challenge for the government to execute newly-built NHA projects for the public commute.
If police logistic support is made as part of PC-I, sources say, the problem of unnecessary delays could be considerably managed.
