NHA won't get more than Rs 65 billion

[Salman]

The Finance Ministry is reported to have indicated to the National Highway Authority (NHA) that it would not be able to release more than Rs 65 billion against its request for Rs 120 billion under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2013-14, sources told Business Recorder on Sunday.

However, a veteran Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Sartaj Aziz, told this correspondent that if it was found necessary, the budgetary allocations would be revised accordingly. In the past PML-N was in power, the party focused on building road infrastructure. The party, apart from dualising the National Highway (N-5 ) between Peshawar and Karachi also approved the construction of the first Motorway in South Asia (M-2 from Lahore to Islamabad) in 1992 and completed in November 1997 at a cost of Rs 36.7 billion.

According to the PML-N's manifesto, large-scale infrastructure projects are catalysts for boosting the economy and it would focus on motorways and other infrastructure projects. For reviving the national economy, resolving energy crisis would be the top priority of the PML-N-led government, Sartaj Aziz maintained.

The government had earmarked Rs 52 billion in PSDP for 2012-13 for NHA, but because of financial crisis only Rs 39 billion were released, official said. However, no money was released for the third and forth quarters of the outgoing fiscal year to the Authority, which hampered various ongoing projects.

NHA had planned 43 new projects with a proposed cost of Rs 9 billion while 80 ongoing projects were to be continued at a cost of Rs 56 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. NHA had not launched any new project in the outgoing fiscal year and only ongoing projects were financed, sources maintained.

Theyfurther said that the proposed plan for the upcoming financial year included a foreign exchange component of Rs 31.5 billion and local currency component of Rs 33.5 billion. The focus of NHA will be to complete ongoing projects, said the official, adding that NHA faced 50 percent cut in PSDP allocations for 2010-11 and 2011-12 which had badly hit the progress of projects.

According to the sources some important projects, including M-8 (Gwadar-Ratodero Motorway), M-9 (Karachi-Hyderabad Super Highway), Qilla Siafullah-Quetta, Tarnol-Fateh Jhung and Malakand Tunnel would be given priority in the upcoming financial year.

The government approved M-8 (Gwadar-Ratodero Motorway), linking Gwadar with other parts of the country at a total cost of Rs 23 billion. However, because of law and order situation in the area work on the project remained suspended. NHA plans to start work on this project in the upcoming year to complete this important project if the new government approves, sources maintained.

Sources said that under the National Trade Corridor Improvement Programme, NHA was building highways, motorways and expressways linking China, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asian states. NHA was planning to invest Rs 300 billion over the next five years for this programme.

Currently, NHA is looking after a road network spanning 11,378 kilometres across the country, and it is expected that road projects with significant regional and international links will be supported by NHA in the next five years. NHA is maintaining 2,731 km roads in Punjab, 2,204km in Sindh, 1,878 km in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 4,565 kilometres in Balochistan.