Lawmakers grill NHA officials for violating rules, ignoring public concerns

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications on Tuesday expressed serious reservations over the number of toll plazas and the poor state of road infrastructure, as lawmakers grilled National Highway Authority (NHA) officials for violating established rules and ignoring public concerns.

Chaired by Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani, the committee met to review progress on previous recommendations and take up multiple agenda items, including the “Toll Plaza Rationalization and Equity Bill, 2025.”

During the session, MNA Syed Waseem Hussain strongly criticized the NHA for establishing toll plazas on the Karachi–Hyderabad (M-9) Motorway at intervals shorter than the prescribed 35–60 km distance.

“This is a sheer injustice to the people of Karachi and Hyderabad,” he said, accusing NHA officials of misleading the committee. “The chairman NHA gives one version while his officers say another. Their statements contradict each other,” he complained, adding that he was “completely dissatisfied” with their response.

Waseem warned that he would raise the issue before the Privileges Committee, alleging that “NHA officials act like typical bureaucrats who neither respect public representatives nor care about the public.” He demanded that the committee’s remarks be included in the official record and forwarded to the National Assembly Speaker for a final decision.

Syed Abrar Ali Shah, mover of the Toll Plaza Rationalization and Equity Bill, said he was “not in favour of toll plazas or the taxes collected through them.” He argued that toll plazas should be set up only after every 80 km, as initially agreed. “NHA collects huge toll revenues but spends nothing on maintenance,” they added.

NHA officials, however, defended the current toll structure, stating that revenue generated from toll tax was “vital for maintaining and operating the national road network.”

The Secretary of Communications acknowledged the challenges faced by the Authority, saying, “The NHA’s revenue depends heavily on toll collection, which sustains road operations nationwide.”

The National Assembly’s panel directed that the Toll Plaza Rationalization and Equity Bill, 2025, be forwarded to the Law and Justice Ministry for review in coordination with NHA and the mover of the Bill, to determine whether new legislation or amendments to the existing law are needed. The ministry was asked to submit its report within 15 days.

Separately, the committee was informed that a motorway police officer involved in a manhandling incident was terminated from service on September 29, 2025. The Communications Ministry also briefed the panel on efforts to align motorway police salaries with those of the Punjab Police and steps to improve highway signage to curb over-speeding.

Regarding the Pakistan Post Office, officials said that some inactive branches remain open within government-owned buildings to prevent illegal occupation. The committee chairman Jakhrani, raised concerns about postal delivery delays, recounting that his daughter’s passport, though marked “delivered” in the system, arrived a day late. He instructed that all procedural flaws be rectified.

The committee also directed the Pakistan Postal Life Insurance to upload seniority lists of beneficiaries online for transparency, noting that the department received only Rs 3 billion this year against a demand of Rs 8 billion.

Discussing the CAREC Phase-III Project, co-funded by the Asian Development Bank, members raised questions over the award of a contract to a previously disqualified firm. The matter will be revisited after receiving a report from the Senate’s Standing Committee on Communications.

The committee further emphasized the timely completion of the Ratodero–Kashmore (N-55) and Moro–Ranipur (N-5) projects, and directed the NHA to ensure all toll plaza lanes remain open to avoid long queues. It also ordered that vehicles only be stopped at designated checkpoints to curb roadside crimes and harassment.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar, Haji Jamal Shah Kakar, Dr Darshan, Nazir Ahmed Bhugio, Mir Shabbir Ali Bijarani, Ramesh Lal, Hameed Hussain, and others, along with senior officials from the Ministry of Communications, NHA, and the Pakistan Post.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025