Cash flow problems hurting 46 NHA projects

As many as 46 ongoing development projects of National Highway Authority (NHA) costing Rs 245.3 billion are facing problems because of financial constraints, official sources told to Business Recorder on Friday. The government had earmarked Rs 36 billion for the projects during the current fiscal year, but only Rs 18 billion (50% of the allocated money) have so far been released, sources said, adding that the delay in the release of funds is escalating the cost of projects.
According to documents available with the Business Recorder, work on as many as 46 development projects having length of 2,985 kilometres is underway with a total cost of Rs 245 billion, which includes roads, river bridges, tunnels, flyovers and interchanges.
The ongoing development projects include 12 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Gigil-Baltistan , having length of 738 km, costing Rs 73.1 billion, seven in Balochistan with a total length of 1,218 kms, costing Rs 64.5 billion, 14 in Punjab with a length of 315 kms with a cost of Rs 48.2 billion, while 13 in Sindh, having a length of 714 km costing Rs 59.5 billion.
The authority completed 12 construction projects during the period between February-2011 and February-2012, costing Rs 19.6 billion. These include seven in Punjab, having a length of 35 kms with a total cost of Rs 13.8 billion, one 31-km project in Sindh, costing Rs 1.6 billion, three 138-km projects in Balochistan with a cost of Rs 4.1 billion while one project in KPK with a cost of Rs 0.1 billion.
Since February-2011, NHA has launched/awarded 16 development projects/sections covering a length of above 500-km inclusive of a number of bridges, flyovers and interchanges. The recently completed projects include, (i) Head Muhammadwala Bridge (River Chenab), (ii) Double Phattak Flyover in Multan, (iii) Chach Interchange on Motorway (M-1), (iv)Lakhi-Naudero-Larkana (Pack-I) (N-105) and (v) Kalat-Khad Koocha (ICB-I) (N-25).
The government has federalised five roads of Sindh with complete transfer of right-of-way to NHA (April 13, 2011) for construction as per NHA standards. All of them are ongoing: (a) Larkana-Kamber-Shahdadkot (50-km, N-455) (b) Larkana-Moenjodaro upto Airport (28-km, N-155) (c) Sakrand-Shaheed Benazirabad (35-km, N-305), (d) Larkana-Nasirabad via Rasheed Waggan (34-km, N-255) and (Ratodero-Naudero (18 km, N-655).