NHA grilled in Senate Panel meeting on collecting toll tax

ISLAMABAD: The voices were raised in the Senate Committee on Communication that National Highway Authority (NHA) collecting the toll tax without the completion of a 17km road from Rajarasti to Umerkot.

While NHA chairman told the Committee that toll tax was imposed on January 23, 2025, but collection was suspended upon receiving notice on January 30, 2025.

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications with the chair of its Chairman Senator Pervaiz Rashid held here at Parliament House on Wednesday. The committee during its meeting discussed a matter of public importance moved by Senator Pojoo Bheel regarding the collection of toll tax by the NHA without the completion of a 17km road from Rajarasti to Umerkot.

Senator Pojoo Bheel highlighted the importance of the road and the substandard material used by the NHA department. He stated that the NHA had started collecting toll tax without completing the project. The senator also drew the committee’s attention to the fact that despite payments made to the NHA, they had not constructed new small bridges connecting many villages and were using the old ones.

NHA chairman briefed the committee that the NHA was assigned the construction of the said road in 2011, which spans 154km, and that they have completed 100km of the project. He further stated that the toll tax was imposed on January 23, 2025, but collection was suspended upon receiving notice on January 30, 2025.

The width of the old road was 5.0 meters, which has now been extended to 7.3 meters, along with a 2.0-meter shoulder, he added. The NHA chairman assured the committee that they would complete the project within the stipulated time with high-quality construction and would address all concerns raised by the committee.

The chairman Committee directed NHA to conduct a third-party evaluation of the entire project and also instructed them to send a team from Islamabad for an inspection of the work. After consultation with the concerned authorities regarding the consideration of PSDP proposals of the Ministry of Communications for the financial year 2025-26, the committee decided to take up the matter after discussions between the NHA and the Planning Division.

While discussing further projects of the NHA, committee members expressed serious concerns about the security of foreign companies operating in Pakistan. The NHA chairman stated that only one Chinese company is working on a project in the Shikarpur area and that they are providing foolproof security to foreign workers.

In response to a question about high-risk areas, he mentioned that security challenges persist in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in areas bordering Afghanistan.

Senator Saifullah Abro highlighted that the people of Sehwan Sharif are facing severe difficulties due to a narrow 1.5km stretch of road in the area and suggested its expansion.

Senator Dost Ali Jeesar seconded his recommendation. Following the chairman committee’s direction, the Ministry of Communications committed to begin the expansion work on the Sehwan Sharif road.

During the meeting, chairman Senate Committee on Communication also expressed serious concerns regarding the shortcomings of the Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD) in delivering pay orders to needy individuals in Punjab during the month of Ramazan.

A PPOD representative briefed the committee, stating that they had deputed more than 7,500 officers/officials to carry out the project. She assured the committee that all staff members were highly energetic and committed to ensuring timely service delivery. She further explained that the project was executed in collaboration with the Bank of Punjab, which was responsible for providing the addresses of beneficiaries.

However, the bank failed to submit the addresses in the required format, which became a major hurdle in the project’s execution. She revealed that PPOD received a total of 53,030 pay orders instead of the expected 500,000 and made every effort to distribute as many as possible within the prescribed timeline.

The chairman Senate committee directed that the assigning authority of PPOD project and other responsible for this task be summoned to the next meeting.

He also expressed concerns over the poor performance of Pakistan Post Office compared to private entities. Furthermore, he instructed the department to submit a concrete proposal aimed at strengthening and improving the Pakistan Post Office services.

Additionally, the committee chairman emphasized the need to print new postage stamps and directed officials to present samples of both old and new stamps for comparison in the next meeting.

The committee members, namely Senators Saifullah Abro, Muhammad Tallal Badar, Dost Ali Jeesar, Mohammad Abdul Qadir, Jam Saifullah Khan, Fawzia Arshad, Pojoo Bheel, and Kamil Ali Agha attended the meeting.