MPAs annoyed over delay in completion of highways in Balochistan

The Baloch Hal News
QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly members expressed concern over the inordinate delay being observed in the completion of highways in the province. Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Quaid-e-Azam) Jaffar Khan Mandokhel told the BA on a point of order that the state of highways in Balochistan was terrible and it was hard for the people to travel on these roads. He appealed to the federal and provincial governments to take the contractors to task for not completing the projects on time and also using substandard material in these projects. He said the pace of work on highways in Quetta-Kalat, Quetta-Chaman, Qilia Saifullah-Zhob, Hernai and other projects was too slow.

“The state of these highways is going from bad to worse with the passage of every day. The government is unable to take action against the contractors,” he said.

Former minister Agha Irfan Karim said Kalat-Kadh Kocha highway was supposed to be completed on December 31st, 2009 but the slow pace of work on these projects made him believe that this project was would not be completed even by the end of year 2010.

Replying on the behalf of the government over the MPAs’ concerns, Balochistan chief minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani disagreed with the notion that work on the highways was taking place slowly. The government had blacklisted Hasnain Construction Company over showing negligence on some matters. The work on all highway projects is taking place without any interruption or delays, he said.

“I have been traveling by road to monitor the condition of highways and the pace of work on these projects in the province. Whenever, I travel to Islamabad and meet the officials of the National Highway Authority, I discuss the projects with the concerned officials,” said the chief minister.

In a lighter mode, Raisani pronounced the name of Mandokhel’s brother, also a popular highway contractor, and said that he should be advised to expedite the pace of work on the construction work and refrain from using substandard material.

The deputy speaker said the adjournment motion would be considered for further debate in the next session of the BA on January 7th.