NA panel displeased over dilapidated Naran road

Committee seeks report on Suki Kinari Dam project

ISLAMABAD:

A National Assembly Sub-Committee on Planning on Monday expressed its displeasure over the breakdown of the Naran road due to the transport of large stones in trucks to the site of Suki Kinari Dam.

Chairing a meeting of the sub-committee, Convenor Committee Saleh Muhammad said that tourists have stopped visiting Naran due to the dilapidated infrastructure destroyed by trucks engaged by the Suki Kinari Company.

The committee directed the officials concerned to submit a report on the project agreement between the government and Suki Company in the next meeting.

Speaking at the meeting, NHA member Planning Asim Amin said that the stone required inside the Suki Kinari Dam was going from Naran and the carrying of stones to the project site has damaged the road network.

He maintained that the company had temporarily repaired the road which now needed to be rebuilt. He added that the NHA had issued a notice ofRs1,282 million to the company but the firm did not bother to respond.

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Convenor Committee Saleh Muhammad said that it was a road for small vehicles but the stone-carrying trucks have destroyed it and tourists have stopped visiting Naran. He stated that the private company was not doing any favour by building the dam but it was earning money.

Officials told the committee that if the Ski Company repaired the road, it will lead to an increase in tariff. Deputy Commissioner Mansehra said that Section 144 has been imposed, banning plying of overloaded vehicles.

The committee directed that the project agreement between the government and the company be presented in the next meeting.

Committee Convenor Saleh Muhammad said that it has been 16 years since work on the New Balakot City was started but it has not yet been completed.

He said that on October 8 every year, the people block the road which remains closed for 8 days. ERRA officials said that it was carrying out more than 2,000 projects in the Mansehra district, and of them, 76 work on government projects and 94 per cent of work on donors' projects have been completed.

ERRA officials said they needed over Rs1.87 billion to complete the work.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2021.