The National Assembly Standing Committee on Communication on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the continuous delay in work of the 1,953 kilometer National Trade Corridor (NTC) project and directed the ministry of communication to take measures for the early completion of the road. The committee was chaired by Saeed Ahmad Zafar and briefing on the projects was given by the National Highway Authority (NHA) and Motorway Police.
The Chairman NHA Muhammad Ali Gardezi said that there were 14 important road projects which were facing delay due to shortage of funds. He said that due to the floods Rs18 billion was cut from their budget that led to a further delay in progress of the projects. He said that the total estimated cost for the completion of the project is Rs247 billion out of which Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed Rs90 billion.
He said that work on different phases of the NTC project is underway. He requested the committee to use its influence for the early release of funds so that the work on the project can continue without any hurdles. The members said that work on NTC project was stopped three years back because of which commuters were facing problems. Chairman said NTC expressway was an important project for the promotion of trade activity and directed the ministry officials to ensure its completion on a preferential basis.
He also stressed for the need to launch projects on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. The Inspector General National Highways and Motorway Police while briefing the committee on the mechanism for fines said that motorway police in the last five years has imposed fines of Rs6.3 billion to commuters on violation of rules while traveling on highway and motorway.
