Devising national transport policy

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad recently, Secretary, Ministry of Communication, disclosed that the government is in the process of preparing the first ever 'National Transport Policy', which may be announced by the end of the current year. During the last ten years, he said, more than a hundred road construction projects have been undertaken with a view to improving communications. In line with the prevalent self-congratulatory culture, he went on to take an unnecessary swipe at the previous governments and claim credit for the present one, as he averred that no political government in the past had formulated a national transport policy.
Notably, majority of the more than 100 projects that he referred to, including the mega infrastructure development projects which he later mentioned, indeed were initiated by political governments in the past. It is true though that a lot remained to be done by way of a coherent and well-integrated transport policy.
The importance of such a policy cannot be over-emphasised. Needless to say, high mobility and connectivity are a sine qua non of development and modernisation. The lack of an efficient transport system not only causes inordinate delays in the movement of goods and farm produce from one point to another, it also adds to the already high cost of doing business in this country.
In fact a special task force, charged with the responsibility of preparing a draft industrial policy, recently presented its report, in which it had named a poor transportation system among other the reasons for poor investor response to the business opportunities that have become available in this country.
According to the findings of this report, the country's transportation system is extremely inefficient and causes losses worth Rs 320 billion annually. From the perspective of the business sector, it also means a loss of many new opportunities, particularly with regard to perishable commodities such as cut flowers and fruits.
During the recent years, the production of these commodities has increased manifold, yet the exports in this sector have remained insignificant mainly due to lack of quick transportation facilities.
The official observed that a number of projects, such as M-3, Kohat tunnels, 550-mile long Coastal Highway have been completed ahead of schedule. Construction work is in progress on Karachi Northern Bypass, Lyari Expressway, and Islamabad-Kohala Road. And the National Highway Authority is to execute several mega projects worth Rs 300 billion in the next five years to expand the land communication network.
In collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and Japan International Co-operation Agency, the government is also building various communication projects in Balochistan with a view to extending road connectivity to far-flung areas of the province. This is good progress. But it is also important that the new communication system does not remain a scattered patchwork. It must be woven together to form a national map of road, railway and air links.
Hopefully, the National Transport Policy that is currently in the process of being finalised will aim at constructing a holistic map of the national communication scene.