ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Communications has reprimanded the National Highway Authority (NHA) over delay in Pindi-Kharian Motorway project and gave ruling that if project exceeds Rs85 billion, the issues would be sent to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and cases would be registered against the concerned officers.
The meeting to Senate Standing Committee on Communication was held at Parliament Lodges Islamabad on Wednesday under the chair of Senator Prince Ahmed Umer Ahmadzai.
The committee was informed that the 70 kilometer long Kharian-Sialkot Motorway project was estimated to be completed at cost of Rs43 billion. ECNEC approved the project in 2021 and half of the project’s land acquisition has been completed. The Punjab government has not issued the NOC for construction of bridge on River Chenab due to which the project was delayed, we were forced to change the route and 34 percent work on project has been completed, the committee was informed.
The Senate Body was further informed that the feasibility of the Pindi-Kharian Motorway has been completed. PC-1 has been approved. The pre-bid meeting for the PP mode project has also been held. Techno Metrocan and the Chinese consortium are the top bidders and ZKB are also in the list. Two tunnels will also be built in the 117 km long motorway.
The Chinese company is reluctant due to the security situation. The cost of the project was 80 billion rupees, but due to delay, the cost will increase because the value of the dollar has increased. Now the possible cost may be 120 billion rupees. It can go up to billions of rupees.
Techno’s representative offered that we are still willing to work on the same bid. In the meeting, two roads in Balochistan, Harnai and Sanjavi, were reviewed and concern was expressed over the unnecessary delay, which is causing a loss of five billion rupees.
The chairman directed legal action by determining the responsible parties. The committee was told that the roads of Balochistan were adversely damaged by the floods of 2022. Many bridges were destroyed. NHA officials said that the project was delayed due to the consultant’s incompetence, which has been thoroughly inquired.
The contract is now suspended and action has been initiated against the consultant. A new PC-1 will be developed for the project and Rs 70 crore has been paid to the contractor. The committee has directed the consultant to be blacklisted and recover the money. The members criticized the NHA officials for not taking action for nine months.
The meeting was attended by Senator Shamim Afridi, Danesh Kumar, Muhammad Akram, Manzoor Ahmed Kakar, Umer Farooq, Abida Muhammad Azeem and Senator Abdul Qadir. Senior officers from related department were also in attendance.
