Metro bus section to be completed by Feb 2020

NHA tells Senate panel that work on 25.6km road track has been completed

ISLAMABAD: The National Highway Authority (NHA) on Monday told the Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms that metro bus service from Peshawar More Interchange to New Islamabad International Airport will be functional by 2020.

The committee meeting, chaired by Agha Shahzaib Durrani, was informed that the 25.6 kilometres road track for the project has been completed, while work on electrical part of the project was under way.

“The NHA will make the metro bus project functional by February 2020,” said a senior NHA official.

The committee also discussed construction and upgrading of the highway between Durgai Shabozai and Tonsa. Briefing the committee, Balochistan Works Department official said the project was announced in 2009, while its estimated cost as per the PC-I was Rs6 billion. However, the authorities approved a revised PC-I of Rs4.085 billion in 2013, they added.

Because of delay, the officers said the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) shifted the project from the Balochistan Development Authority to the Communications and Works Department, following which work on the task started in 2017. So far, funds amounting to Rs1.8 billion have been released for the project and 42 per cent of the work is completed, they added.

The said delays in the work have increased the cost by 22 per cent.

So far, the federal government has released Rs0.6 billion out of the earmarked Rs1.65 billion while the provincial government released Rs1.24 billion of funds out of Rs1.74 billion. Due to the addition of six new bridges and other components, the cost of the project shoot up by Rs5 billion.

The Planning, Development and Reform Secretary Zafar Hasan said the federal government will not release any more funds if the project costs are increased. The committee chairman asked how so many alternations were being made on the project.  Senator Ruksana Zuberi said: “Every single project is being presented to Ecnec several times, which increases its cost.”

The panel directed the team, comprising officials from the planning ministry and the engineering council, to launch an inquiry into the matter and present a report before the committee.

In their briefing before the committee, the planning ministry officials said the Planning Management Institute had designed a course to investigate and ascertain the factors responsible for increase in project costs and completion time.

The planning secretary maintained that despite financing problems many projects are being added in the Public Sector Development Programmes (PSDP).

“We will make sure that we only induct lowest number of new projects in the PSDP from the next fiscal year so that ongoing projects see their completion. We will reserve 80 per cent of the funds for ongoing projects and 20 per cent of the funds for new projects,” said the secretary.

Senator Rana Maqbool stressed the need for a proper mechanism in the planning ministry for approval of projects. “It should not happen that a group of two or four men jointly approve a project,” he said

The planning secretary said: “This year as many as 385 projects were included in the PSDP from which a large number of projects have not been approved yet.”

The chairman demanded of the NHA officials to present details of the increase in toll taxes for M-2 Motorway. The officials said the toll revenue during 2018-19 reported an increase of 19 per cent.

The chairman censured the officials for not knowing the details, saying he had sought details of toll tax increases not of toll revenue. The officials said the toll taxes were increased by 10 per cent every year. Senator Maqbool said the increase of 10 per cent was not justified.

Commenting over land acquisition, Maqbool said the payment mechanism for land acquisition was way too complex and as such land should be acquired at market rates. The NHA officials admitted that there are problems in land acquisition and several cases pertaining to the matter are pending in the courts.

Chairman Durrani said: “People were not being given their dues for land acquisition even after their generations had passed.” He directed the NHA to present a briefing on the status of land acquisition made during the past five years.