National Highway Authority (NHA) Member Central Zone Lahore Abdul Rauf Sheikh Tuesday said that Rs. 53,484.49 million would be spent on maintenance of roads in year 2021-2022 throughout the country.
He was addressing the NHA stakeholders conference at a private hotel to discuss the NHA Annual Maintenance Plan 2021-2022.
He said that Pakistan would further move towards economic progress and prosperity as the country’s position has strengthened in the region after the launch of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) road network, adding that the NHA achieve targets of economic growth through effective communication means.
Besides up-gradation of existing road infrastructure, expansion in national trade corridor and a number of other initiatives were being taken to construct new roads, he said and added that the NHA under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, was working for construction and expansion of roads.
He said that 85 percent of trade depended on road infrastructure in the country so that the NHA has reserved Rs 53,484.49 million for construction and expansion of road network while a huge amount has also been reserved for repair, renovation and rehabilitation work of existing roads.
Abdul Rauf Sheikh said that Pakistan wanted to ensure road corridor for neighboring countries for promoting trade to Central Asian countries, adding that neighboring countries also wanted to access or get benefited from Pakistan’s road network. Due to the efforts of NHA in road infrastructure, the travel time from one corner of the country to another has been reduced from 72 hours to 36 hours which also helped flourishing the tourism, he maintained.
He said the project was being prioritised through consultation with stakeholders, adding the expected revenue through different sources was Rs. 47,136.11 million.
General Manager (Maintenance) Punjab-North NHA, Lahore Iftikhar Sajid said in 2021-2022 spending as annual maintenance plan had been Rs. 5,330.00 million.
General Manager KP Col (retd) Zulfiqar Ali Janjua speaking on the occasion said “We are proposing Rs. 3,232.97 million maintenance plan 2021-2022. General Manager Gilgit-Baltistan Mehboob said spending as annual maintenance plan 2021-2022 stood at Rs. 217.38 million.
GM (Punjab-South) NHA, Multan spending was recorded at Rs. 6,249.29 million for annual maintenance plan 2021-2022.
Representatives of transport associations, gas station representatives, National Highway and Motorway Police and general public were also present.
