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Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Communications Senator Pervaiz Rashid presides over a meeting at Parliament House on March 12, 2025. — Facebook@Pakistansenate
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ISLAMABAD: The Senate Committee for Communications raised the voice that the National Highway Authority (NHA) collects toll tax without completion of a road 17 km from Rajasti to Umerkot.
However, the NHA chairman told the committee that the toll tax was imposed on January 23, 2025, but the collection was suspended on January 30, 2025.
The Senate Standing Committee meeting with the chair of its chairman Senator Pervez Rashid at the Parliament House on Wednesday was held at the Parliament House on Wednesday at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee. During its meeting, the committee discussed the issue of public importance by Senator Pooju Bheel, in which the NHA was transferred to the NHA without completion of the road from Rajasti to Umerkot.
Senator Pooju Bheel highlighted the importance of the road and the non -standard content used by the NHA Department. He said that the NHA had started collecting toll tax without completing the project. The Senator also drew the attention of the committee to the fact that despite the payment to the NHA, he did not build new small bridges to many villages and was using the old.
The NHA chairman informed the committee that the NHA was assigned the construction of the aforementioned road in 2011, which covers 154 km, and that they have completed 100 km of the project. He added that the toll tax was imposed on January 23, 2025, but on January 30, 2025, the collection was suspended after receiving the notice.
He added that the width of the old road was 5.0 meters, which has now been increased to 7.3 meters with 2.0 meters shoulder. The NHA chairman assured the committee that he would complete the project within the stipulated time with high quality construction and address all concerns raised by the committee.
The Chairman Committee directed the NHA to diagnose the entire project of the entire project and directed them to send a team from Islamabad to inspect work. After consulting the Ministry of Communications PSDP proposals for the financial year 2025-26, the committee decided to raise the matter after talks between the NHA and the Planning Division.
Talking to further NHA projects, members of the committee expressed serious concerns about the security of foreign companies operating in Pakistan. The NHA chairman said that only one Chinese company is working on a project in the Shakirpur area and they are providing foolproof security to foreign workers.
In response to a question about high -risk areas, he mentioned that security challenges are maintained in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially in Afghanistan.
Senator Saifullah Awabar highlighted that the people of Sehwan Sharif are facing severe problems due to a small road road 1.5 km away in the area and suggested an expansion.
Senator Dost Ali Jasir supported his recommendation. Following the direction of the Chairman Committee, the Ministry of Communications pledged to start the extension work on Sahan Sharif Road.
During the meeting, the Chairman Senate Committee on Communication also expressed serious concerns about the shortcomings of the Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD) in giving salaries to the needy in Punjab during the month of Ramadan.
A PPOD representative informed the committee that he had ousted more than 7,500 officers/officials to carry out the project. He assured the committee that all staff members are committed to ensuring extremely dynamic and timely service. He further explained that the project was implemented in partnership with the Bank of Punjab, which was responsible for providing beneficiaries’ addresses.
However, the bank failed to offer addresses in the desired form, which became a major obstacle to the project. It revealed that the PPOD received a total of 53,030 salary orders instead of 500,000 expected and made every effort to distribute the maximum in the maximum fixed timeline.
The Chairman Senate Committee directed that the assigned authority of the PPOD project and other responsible for this should be summoned at the next meeting.
He also expressed concern over the poor performance of the Pakistan Post Office compared to private institutions. In addition, he directed the department to make a concrete proposal that aims to strengthen and improve the Pakistan Post Office services.
In addition, the chairman of the committee emphasized the need to print new stamps to present old and new stamps for comparisons at the next meeting.
Members of the committee, namely Senators Saifullah Awar, Mohammad Talal Badar, Dost Ali Jasar, Mohammad Abdul Qadir, Jam Saifullah Khan, Fawzia Arshad, Pooju Bheel, and Kamil Ali Agha attended the meeting.
