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Senate panel protests Economic Corridor design change
By Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Communication on Thursday protested the re-designing of the Economic Corridor (Gwadar-Kashgar route), saying major cities of Balochistan have been excluded from the project while the most disturbed areas of the province have been included in it.
The committee, which met with Muhammad Daud Khan Achakzai in the chair, expressed serious reservations over the re-designing of the Economic Corridor and said that Balochistan would not get due benefit from the project, which is being considered a game changer for the province. The senators belonging to Balochistan warned that the project would not be acceptable to them if their concerns are not addressed.
Senator Hamuyun Khan Mandokhel strongly protested the government’s move for amendments in the proposed project. They were later joined by other members of the committee. State minister for Parliamentary Affaires Sheikh Aftab Ahmad assured the committee that the matter would be raised with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the light of the recommendations of the committee. He said it is a proposal and nothing has been finalised yet. National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Shahid Ashraf Tarar informed the committee that two projects regarding Economic Corridor – Karakoram Highway and Multan-Sukkar portion – were approved in the second meeting of the Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) of Pak-China Economic Corridor. The committee also recommended the government to lift ban from recruitment in National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP), which is facing serious challenges due to short of staff, besides raise their salaries and make equal to other provinces police officials. Inspector General NH&MP Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema said that no recruitment was made in the departments during last two years. State Minister said that a summary in this regard has already been moved to Prime Minister and the matter would be discussed in next couple of days.
The committee also expressed serious reservations over the increasing trends of accidents on motorways and highways besides overloading complaints. The NH&MP officials informed the committee that several actions have been taken by Motorway Police regarding road safety which resulted in reduction in the number of fatal accident as 44 fatal accidents were reported in 2013 against 58 in 2012. The NH&MP is taking all possible steps including extensive briefing/education campaigns, strict enforcement of law, focusing on black spots and improving road engineering/infrastructure to control accidents and save precious lives and property of the commuters.
They further said that motorcyclists are the major victims of the fatal accidents. Therefore, hectic efforts are being made to brief/educate the motorcyclists about the violations they commit, especially the non-wearing of helmet, absence of side view mirror etc. The LEDs at exit/entry points at toll plazas of Motorway have been installed displaying road safety messages, officials maintained. The NH&MP officials further said that overloading is discouraged through strict measures for the safety of road network in the country. Weigh stations are being operated by NHA through private Contractors. However, necessary instructions have already been issued to the patrolling officers to check overloaded HTVs by checking slips issued at weigh stations. If the driver does not possess slip, vehicle is being re-weighted at weigh station. However the committee observed that due to nominal fine, overloading is continued and recommended that the amount of fine should be increased while construction of warehouses at toll plazas to un-load these vehicles to discourage it.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk