The National Assembly Standing Committee on Ministry of Communications on Wednesday appreciated the efforts being made by the National Highways Authority (NHA) to repair and restore the Coastal Highway.
The meeting was held in the National Assembly Secretariat with Brigadier Zulfiqar Ahmad Dhillon (Retd) in the chair. The meeting discussed four-item agenda, including Karachi-Hyderabad expressway problems and issues of contracting firms; briefing on expected revenue through tolls on annual basis with an annual growth of traffic.
The committee also discussed estimated annual cost of general maintenance and service; and briefing on the Coastal Highway damage due to the recent rains and sea-storm. The committee advised that the annual cost of general maintenance and service should be controlled at the highest level in the organisation. The committee deliberated on all items in detail with special focus on the contracting system, which had failed in a number of projects of NHA.
After lengthy discussions on the agenda, the committee appreciated the work being done by NHA and advised for further improvement with regard to better management, discipline and adoption of latest technology in all fields of road construction and maintenance.
The committee further advised for better and wide publicity about the important role being played by the organisation. Besides Muhammad Shamim Siddiqui, Minister for Communications, the meeting was attended by Muhammad Tahir Shah, Syed Gulzar Sibtain, Muhammad Akhtar Khan Kanju, Dr Rozina Tufail, Dr Ghulam Hyder Samejo, Afsar Begum, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, Shahid Hussain Bhutto, and Muhammad Farooq Azam Malik.