All NHA projects to be completed in stipulated time: Arbab

[Salman]

Federal Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan on Thursday said that all National High Authority projects would be completed in the stipulated period, adding that contractors' legitimate demands would be fulfilled on immediate basis. He said this while presiding over a meeting aimed at highlighting the issues being faced by the NHA contractors.

Those, who attended the meeting, included Secretary Communications Anwar Ahmed Khan, Chairman NHA Syed Muhammad Ali Gardezi, NHA Members and Representatives of Contractors Association of Pakistan (CAP). The minister said that NHA needed to prioritise the projects and gave more attention towards all those projects were in completion. He said the completion of number of project at a time was quite difficult, but could take time to be completed in a stipulated period.

Alamgir said the NHA was focusing on the ongoing projects, while no new scheme was initiated during the last financial year. "We plan to follow the same policy in current financial year," he added. The minister said that construction sector was the backbone of our economy and was playing an important role in economy of Pakistan. "We need to build capacity of our local industry so that they can come at par with the international construction companies," he stressed.

He directed Chairman NHA to look into their problems and bring out solutions which were acceptable to the contractors and NHA. The secretary communication and Chairman NHA on the occasion put different suggestions to address issues relating to delay in payments to the contractors, land acquisition and others. On the occasion, the Members of Contractor Association of Pakistan said if their problems were resolved, the projects would be not only completed in time but also made NHA able to earn more revenue.