Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said on Sunday the revenue of National Highway Authority ( NHA) has increased by 73 percent during the tenure of PTI government.
In a statement issued here, he said the authority has completed the first phase of geographic information system survey.
This, he said, will further enhance the revenue of the National Highway Authority.
Murad Saeed also expressed the commitment for timely completion of ongoing road infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, the government has so far released Rs 85.9 billion for development projects of National Highway Authority (NHA) out of total allocation of Rs 95.67 billion under its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20.
According to latest data released by the Planning Commission, an amount of Rs 18.5 billion has been released for construction of motorway from Burhan-Hakla on M-1 to Dera Ismail Khan.
For construction of infrastructure and allied works for metro bus services Peshawar Morr-New International Airport Islamabad, the amount released so far was Rs 3.533 billion, while total allocation for this project for the year 2019-20 is Rs 4.5 billion.
Similarly, the government also issued Rs 3.5 billion for construction of black top road Yakmatch-Kharan via Dostain Wadh Khurmagai, whereas for Rs 2.6 billion has been released for construction of 6-lane highway from Kala Shah Kaku to Lahore ring road.
For improvement, upgradation and widening of Jaglot-Skardu road, an amount of Rs 5.5 billion has been release out of total allocation of Rs 7.4 billion while for Lahore-Multan motorway, the government released Rs 4.5 billion.
Meanwhile, in order to enhance revenue National Highway Authority has initiated project of Geographic Information System (GIS) Survey and development of Geo database of its entire network located throughout the country.
The project will enable NHA to digitize the complete information regarding utilities and commercial amenities in the Right of Way (ROW) of NHA network. The project was commenced in June 2019, and will be completed in 18-months time period.
The GIS Survey of pilot section from Rawalpindi Soan Bridge to Kharian (N-5), has been completed. The project is divided into three phases. Phase-I was completed in November 2019, in phase-I listing of commercial amenities on Karachi-Multan-Lahore-Peshawar National Highway (1819) Km (N-5) is complete and 12500 notices are issued.
In Phase-II, verification of commercial amenities at Hassanabdal-Thakot-Khunjerab (N-35), Indus Highway (N-55), Larkana-Naudero-Lakhi Road (N-105), Larkana-Moenjodaro Road (N-155), Larkana-Kamber-Shahdadkot (N-455) and Ratodero-Naudero-Road (N-655), is in progress.
In phase-III, field survey of Makran-Costal Highway, Karachi-Kalat-Quetta-Chaman, Lakpass Taftan Highway (N-40), Sukkur-Sibbi–Quetta Highway (N-65), Multan-DG Khan-Qila Saifullah (N-70), Gharo-Keti Bandar (N-110), Hyderabad-Khokhrapar (N-120), Larkana-Nasirabad (N-255), Sakrand-Shaheed Benazirabad (N-305) is in progress and will be completed by May 2020.
After completion of entire GIS mapping, a substantial increase in NHA revenue is expected. The data of Inventoried and digitized NHA assets will be used for optimal revenue management.
