Federal Minister Orders End to Corruption in National Highway Authority

Adopting a zero-tolerance policy in the National Highway Authority (NHA), Federal Minister for Communications, Abdul Aleem Khan directed strict indiscriminate action against corrupt officers and officials in the department while giving a deadline of one week. In a high-level meeting of NHA, Khan directed the chairman NHA for a large-scale operation “clean-up” and said that no “Sifarish” should be accepted for those involved in corruption and only qualified, honest, and capable officers should be posted on all seats. Khan observed that NHA should work on a plan to remove barriers on motorways and propose electronic toll plazas so that citizens do not have to stand in long queues. He said that the Lahore, Sialkot, and Kharian to Islamabad Motorway should have to be 6 “lanes” instead of 4 because. ‘We have to plan to keep in mind the traffic pressure in the future’, said the minister. The meeting also discussed and took important decisions on the construction of highways from Baila to Awaran and Zhob to Loralai, as well as the construction of a new bypass on the Kala Sha Kaku to Multan Road and road from Sagian to Ravi bridge while the NHA’s plan to expand the Margalla Highway and connect it to the M-1 was also discussed. The meeting, chaired by Khan, discussed the ongoing projects of the NHA in all four provinces and took important decisions in this regard including increasing the pace of work. The Federal Minister said that all highways and motorways should be connected to cameras and CCTVs so that every vehicle can be monitored. The meeting expressed that the provinces can also join the NHA in the construction of new roads and highways. The Federal Secretary for Communications and Chairman NHA gave a detailed briefing to the minister on important departmental matters and various proposals were finalized.