National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications on Monday took serious notice of undue delay in completion of Garho – Keti Bandar road section and directed the Ministry to hold an enquiry and submit report to the Committee within fifteen days.
The meeting of the committee was held here at Parliament House under the acting Chairmanship Murtaza Javed Abbasi.
The Member (South Zone) Karachi, National Highway Authority (NHA), briefed the Committee regarding rehabilitation of Garho – Keti Bandar road. He informed that the Garho – Keti Bandar section (package III) was spread over 25 Km which had been 52.13% completed.
He said that the commencement date of the project was 25-06-2010 and revised date of completion was 25-12-2013, adding that the contractor had suspended the work since July 2013 and currently the case was under Court of Law.
The committee was also briefed about the Sassui (Chilia) toll plaza, it was informed that the toll plaza was located at km 100 + 500. The invitation for the bid was floated in press on 31-03-2021, and the contract was awarded on net guaranteed monthly fixed revenue basis to M/s Shah Latif Enterprises that is operating on fixed revenue basis of Rs 3,182,786.00.
The committee sought 6 months’ comparative data on count of traffic (heavy/light transport vehicles) passing through the Sassui (Chilia) toll plaza and detail regarding all bidders.
The representative of NHA briefed the Committee on construction of additional carriageway from Petaro to Sehwan 128 Km (N-55). Package 1A (from Mehran University to Petaro) for 20 Km and package 1B (from Petaro to Khanote) for 20 km was funded by Government of Sindh and is 100% complete, adding that the Package 1C (from Khanote to Manjhand) for 24 Km was awarded to the lowest bidder who could not perform at site, resultantly, NHA terminated the contract due to poor performance. The contractor filed suit in the court.
In the briefing, on construction of Sukkur to Hyderabad Motorway (M-6) section, the Committee was informed that the length of the project is 306 Km and it passes through 6 districts. The design and land acquisition proceedings of the project are in progress. The committee recommended that an interchange might be constructed on Sukkur – Multan motorway (M-5) to facilitate public and trade in the area.
The Member (North Zone) Peshawer briefed the Committee on Kohat – Gandi road 123 km additional carriage way. He informed that the scope of project was dualization and improvement of existing Indus Highway (N-55) from Sarai Gambila to Kohat. The project is consisted of package I (from Sarai Gambila to Karak section) spread over 60.85 km and package III (from Karak to Kohat section) for 66.80 km. Over all progress of package-I is 82% while for package II is 72%, the revised date of completion of both projects is 22-11-2021.
The Committee was also informed about the issues of public relating to the contractor of the project and the committee directed NHA to resolve the issues.
The Member (North Zone) Peshawer in his briefing on progress of work on Chitral – Gilgit road, informed that the project is divided into four packages. The Package I is awarded and commencement is under way, while package II and package III has been approved by NHA Executive Board and award of these sections is underway.
The work for package IV is in procurement stage. He further informed that the project will be completed within two years’ time after commencement of work at site, subject to settlement of land issues by District Management and handing over of land to NHA.
The Member (West Zone) Quetta briefed the committee regarding progress of Hub Bridge. He informed that due to heavy rain and outflow of excess water from Hub Dam the Hub Bridge was damaged. The committee recommended to repair Hub Bridge immediately.
The committee recommended that the remaining work on 2.5 km portion of Khuzdar to Shahdadkot road might be completed on priority basis. The Member (North Zone) Peshawer briefed the committee regarding Ayub Bridge at Havelian which was badly damaged due to heavy rain during last three months. The committee recommended rehabilitation of Ayub Bridge immediately.
The Bill titled “The Pakistan Postal Services (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (moved by Amjad Ali Khan, MNA)” was presented and the Committee decided to defer the Bill till its next meeting.
