The National Highway Authority (NHA) Friday failed to satisfy a parliamentary panel over the progress on the vital portion of western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as it revealed that the land has not been acquired so far. The government has put in place section-4 in the area but land has not been acquired for the Zhob-DI Khan section of six-lane motorway which has been approved in the Pakistan-China Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of CPEC, said NHA official while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Communication. The committee met with Daud Khan Achakzai in the chair here Friday.
The parliamentary panel observed that truth has not been revealed before it and even matters are kept hidden from the Parliament. The committee directed NHA to present all the details of Pakistan-China Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meetings in the next committee meeting and in case the panel remains unsatisfied, the matter would be taken to the privilege committee. Achakzai said that government has ignored the western route of CPEC by not releasing any amount for the project during the last three years. He said that some amount of money was earmarked in the last budget for land acquisition only for eyewash, but in fact the amount was not spent. The government earmarks funds in the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for western route and Balochistan projects just for showing its seriousness but later it diverts them to other projects.
The federal minister for communication informed the committee that JCC meeting is scheduled for January 18, where approval for more projects would be gotten. The government earmarked Rs 324.72 billion in the budget for 2017-18 for 85 projects of NHA including 72 ongoing and 13 new projects where Rs 109.99 billion have so far been utilized. But it was also revealed that work on not a single new project has so far been started in the current fiscal year.
The committee was informed that both the projects ie 210 kilometers DI Khan-Zhob and Khuzdar-Basima (110 kilometers) were included in CPEC during the meeting of JCC, which also recommended its financing. DI Khan-Zhob and Khuzdar-Basima roads would cost around Rs 81 billion and Rs 20 billion respectively. The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved PC-1 for the projects in April 2017. The committee was astonished by hearing that not a single candidate was hired on contract basis as trainee engineers for projects in Balochistan because they do not possess engineering degree. The NHA official tried to justify the position by saying that candidates with engineering degrees were not available therefore these people were hired, but the committee rejected the justification and sought details in the next meeting.
The committee also raised the issue of toll plazas while saying that these were not given to contractors through proper bidding process. The NHA officials said that currently out of the total 56, 29 toll plazas are with National Logistic Cell (NLC) and they were awarded after bidding. However the committee chairman said that NLC has admitted before the committee that it has outstanding amount against NHA and is, therefore, holding these toll plazas. The additional inspector general National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) informed the committee that the Prime Minister had approved 11,000 new posts for motorways and highways. The recruitment process would be completed in three phases in three years.
The NH&MP officer revealed that the Prime Minister had announced 20 percent increase in salaries for the department, but the decision was not implemented. Further other police forces have better salary packages as compared to NH&MP. The Finance Division on February 12, 2015 granted 10% increase instead of 20 % but it was frozen with effect from July 1, 2015 at the level of its admissibility as on June 30, 2015 on introduction of pay scales 2015. Further, it was brought into the notice of the committee that the special allowance was not granted to the employees of NH&MP. Currently, the police of all four provinces and AJK are getting risk allowance. The committee decided to invite the Finance Division in the next meeting regarding the non-implementation of its recommendations.
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