Senate Standing Committee members inspect under construction M-9 Motorway

HYDERABAD: The Senate's Standing Committee on Communication inspected the under construction M9 Motorway between Karachi and Hyderabad on Friday.

The committee headed by its chairman advocate Muhammad Daud Khan Achakzai also later received briefing at Nooriabad's camp office and spoke to the media.

The other committee members including senators Dr Ashok Kumar, Rozi Khan Kakar and Nighat Mirza accompanied Achakzai.

The Chairman National Highway Authority Shahid Ashraf Tarar and Brig (r) Tahir Raja, Chief Operating Officer of Superhighway Construction Operation and Rehabilitation Engineering limited (SCORE), a subsidiary of Frontier Works Organization (FWO), briefed the committee.

Speaking on the occasion, senator Achakzai expressed concerns about the lease of land to petrol pumps by the NHA, pointing out that some petrol pump owners complaint against other alleging of favours.

"All such allotments should be cancelled and advertisement in the newspapers should be published to point out the land along the highway which belonged to the NHA and to warn that no encroachment would be allowed," he asked the NHA's Chairman.

The committee's chairman asked the NHA's Chairman to cancel all such allotments and publish advertisement in the newspapers pointing out that the land along the highway belonged to the NHA and that no encroachment would be allowed.

The NHA was further asked to return fee collected for such leases.

Senator Achakzai said the committee planned to visit the M9 Motorway after receiving some complaints including one that a small portion of the newly built motorway had caved in.   The committee members also questioned from the NHA and SCORE that why the toll tax was being collected on the M9 even though construction of the motorway was still underway.

The senators also pointed out spelling mistakes in the signboards and asked why deployment of the Motorway police appeared thin. The questions about the installation and monitoring through the Close Circuit Television Cameras was also asked.

The Chairman NHA and SCORE's COO were asked to explain why a new and alternate route was not selected for the motorway instead of building it over the old Super Highway.

"It has been claimed that 90 to 100 kilometers of service road has been built. But during our visit we only saw around 10 km of such service road," senator Achakzai observed.

Responding to those queries, the Chairman NHA informed that under the agreement the construction company was allowed to begin collection of the toll tax after completing 60 kilometers of the 136-km motorway.

However, he added that the FWO and its subsidiary SCORE began to collect the tax after constructing 76 km portion of the motorway whose inauguration was performed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif 2 months ago.

Tarar assured the committee about compliance with its directives with regard to the land given to the petrol pumps.

Explaining subsiding of a few kilometers portion of the motorway, the chairman said the road developed depression because the heavy transport vehicles apply breaks and slow down near the temporary toll plaza.

"The road near the permanent toll plaza will be built to sustain the heavy traffic. Soon after completion of the motorway, the permanent plazas would be build," he told adding that the portion in question was being repaired.

The Chairman also assured the committee that the service road would also be built soon. Briefing the committee, Brif (r) Raja informed that around 90 km portion of the motorway had been completed while the remaining part would be built by August.