Islamabad: The National Highway Authority (NHA) has regained 178 kanals of lands from encroachers and land grabbers, a news source reported. The authority, on the directives of State Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, carried out action against 3,131 encroached areas in various parts of the country – clearing 2,157 spots in the process.
The total value is estimated to be worth PKR 1.288 billion. As many as 334 locations in Dera Ismail Khan, 20 in Hyderabad, 59 in Multan, 99 in Bahawalpur, 495 in Rahim Yar Khan, 100 in Bat Khela, 42 in Wazirabad, 197 in Lahore and 811 locations in Rawalpindi and Islamabad-Murree Dual Carriageway have been recaptured.
In a separate development, Ministry of Communications has launched a road safety strategy, which is aimed at providing better facilities to commuters as well as reduce the number of traffic accidents.
State Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, Federal Communications Secretary Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Jawad Rafique Malik, Inspector General of National Highways and Motorways Police Allah Dino Khowaja, Assistant Chief National Transport Research Centre Shahbaz Latif Mirza, Punjab Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer, Pakistan DFID Head Economic Growth Group Ms Patricia, ADB Deputy Country Director Sunil Mitra, Pakistan Resident Mission Dr Rizwan Naseer and Director Roads Ministry of Communications Hameed Akhtar, among others, attended the launch event.
Murad Saeed, while addressing the launch of Pakistan National Road Safety Strategy (PNRSS) 2018-30, expressed the hope that the strategy would help reduce the number of fatal accidents on highways and motorways.
He said that road safety is a major concern in Pakistan, adding that the strategy has been devised in collaboration with UK-Aid and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
