Senate body concerns over absence of Ministry of Communications, NHA

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Communications expressed serious concern over the continuous and unjustified absence of senior officials of the Ministry of Communications and the National Highway Authority.

The meeting of Sub-Committee was presided over by the Convener, Senator Kamil Ali Agha. The sub-committee observed with grave concern that despite assurance given in the last meeting, the CEO, National Highway Authority (NHA), and the Secretary, Ministry of Communications, failed to attend the meeting. The sub-committee expressed serious concern over the continuous and unjustified absence of the above officials.

The agenda of the meeting was to probe thoroughly the Tranche-III (Rajanpur-D.G Khan- D.I Khan) CAREC project. The proposal, the entire tendering process, bidding documents (technical & financial) of all participating companies and relevant record, along with input from the consultant were supposed to be taken up. The committee was also set to probe in detail clearance of NXCC (Ningxia Communication Construction) from Lodhran-Multan project through arbitration in spite of being a non-performer company.

Taking serious notice of the continuous absence of the Secretary, the sub-committee observed that such conduct amounts to a breach of privilege of the Committee and the House, as Standing Committees function as an extension of the Parliament. Therefore, the sub-committee decided to write a letter to the Prime Minister through the Chairman Senate regarding the misconduct and breach of privilege of the sub-committee along with the House by the Secretary, Ministry of Communications.

The sub-committee further directed that the pending matter be finalized in the upcoming meeting to be held on 19th January, 2026.

Senators Zamir Hussain Ghumro and Saifullah Abro also attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026