Islamabad: The Senate Standing Committee on Communications was recently informed that a road project approved under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) had not been shelved; a news source reported. The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Hidayatullah, was briefed on several projects by officials of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and the Ministry of Communications.
The officials said that feasibility reports of the roads linking Chaman to Quetta, Quetta to Kuzdar, and Quetta to Karachi will be completed on a priority basis. They added that all NHA members have been formally asked to review the status of weight stations; adding that, so far, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform has released a sum of PKR 25.6 billion.
The government has withdrawn toll tax exemptions for parliamentarians, and now only ambulances, fire brigade vehicles, officials of the defense ministry, and judges are exempt from paying. On a related front, the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) has been tasked to come up with measures to reduce traffic congestion at toll plazas.
