‘NHA receives Rs2.3bn, seeking more funds to continue ongoing schemes’

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi Tuesday said that some relief has been given to NHA by providing Rs2.3 billion, however more funds are required to continue construction activity on ongoing NHA schemes.

While presiding over NHA Executive Board Meeting held he said, shortage of funds has badly affected the pace of work. Despite financial crunch, he said, NHA was striving to clear liabilities of the contractors so that projects could be completed well in time.

The Executive Board accorded approval for rehabilitation work of 28km portion of Nowshera-Peshawar section of G.T.Road that was submerged during the last year's flood. The Executive Board approved its revised contract cost of more than Rs1 billion.

The meeting discussed various aspects of award of work for construction of 57-km Khanewal-Multan Motorway (M-4 Extension). The ECNEC has approved its PC-1 amounting to Rs14.5 billion.

The Board Members also reviewed the grand Shahdara Flyover project. Length of this partially elevated expressway will be 5.75km and this 6 lane expressway will cost Rs9.654 billion. Matters relating to establishment of Highway Research & Training Centre (HRTC) construction of Sandhilianwali Bridge across River Ravi and Wazirabad-Khanqah Dogran Expressway were discussed in detail.

The Meeting was attended by Rana Asad Amin-Additional Secretary (Budget) Finance Division, Abdul Basit Khan, Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of Communications, Bashir Ahmed,Chief NTRC, Qazi Iftikhar Ahmed-Vice President NESPAK, Munir Ahmed Anjum,Chief (T & C) Planning Commission, Muhammad Junaid-Member (Finance) NHA, Sabir Hassan-Member (Planning) NHA, Dr. Muhammad Shafique,Deputy Inspector General National Highways & Motorway Police, and Ch. Khalid Naseem,Secretary NHA.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011