Communication sector gets Rs 42.012 billion

The government has allocated Rs 42.012 billion for communication sector, including shipping and railways in the Public Sector Development Programme 2007-08. An amount of Rs 3.849 billion has been allocated for 36 new projects while a hefty allocation of Rs 38.163 billion has been made to accomplish 85 ongoing projects.
The major chunk of the budgetary allocation goes to the communication sector, as Rs 29.612 billion has been allocated to improve country''s road network. Of Rs 29.612 billion, an amount of Rs 29 billion would be given to the National Highway Authority (NHA), whereas around Rs 612.820 million has been allocated for communication division.
Among the mega projects, the government has allocated an amount of Rs 3.889 billion for the rehabilitation of 857-km N-5 highway. Around Rs 3.442 billion would be arranged through foreign loans.
Moreover, Rs 2 billion has been allocated for Kalat-Quetta-Chaman 247-km section of N-25 for which Rs 1.7 billion would come from foreign loans. As many as Rs 2 billion will be spent on widening and improvement in N-85 (Hoshab-Nag-Basima-Surab Road).
The government has allocated Rs 1 billion each for Karachi Northern Bypass, Lyari Expressway, and Islamabad-Muzaffarabad Road. An amount of Rs 1.8 billion has been allocated for Makran Coastal Road, Balochistan.
As far as ports and shipping sector is concerned, the government has allocated an amount of Rs 757.020 million for five projects. There are three ongoing projects, including Gwadar deep sea water port (Phase-I) that also includes deepening of the channel at a cost of Rs 400 million.
An amount of Rs 100 million has been allocated each for two new projects - Eastbay Expressway to link national road network, Gwadar and land acquisition for ROW of Eastbay Expressway to link National Road Network, Gwadar.
The government has made an allocation of Rs 11.222 billion for some 24 on-going projects of Railways while Rs 420 million would be spent on eight new projects.
Around Rs 2.8 billion has been allocated for doubling of Khanewal-Raiwind section track, whereas the government would spend Rs 2.373 billion on track rehabilitation plan.