ISLAMABAD, May 16: A ‘Road Maintenance Fund’ will be set up for the development of the highway sector, the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman, Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed, said on Thursday.

He was talking to a two-member delegation of the World Bank headed by Mark Dumel.

NHA’s Member (Finance) M. Amjad Virk, Member (Operation) Col (Rtd) Azizul Haq Mirza and PD Imran Khan Yousafzai were also present on the occasion.

Maj-Gen Farrukh said the World Bank was playing a commendable role for the uplift of developing countries. He said the government of Pakistan was paying particular attention towards road building projects.

He said a comprehensive project had been prepared under which 1,100 km-long highways would be rehabilitated and maintained with the cooperation of the bank. He said more than Rs12 billion would be spent on this project and the government would also provide funding.

The chairman said 30 weigh stations would be installed at strategic locations in the national highway system during 2002. He said a total of 16 weigh stations were being installed across the country which were expected to become functional by June 2002. He said the national highway project had been made transparent so that the confidence of international organizations could be restored.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dumel said pace of development of communications in Pakistan was laudable. He said the World Bank was already cooperating in the railways, highways and shipping sectors of Pakistan and this cooperation would continue.

“We desire development of highway sector in Pakistan that would facilitate the process of economic restoration in the country,” he said.

He welcomed the reforms introduced in the NHA and expected that such steps would bring about positive results. He said confidence of international organizations would be restored in the NHA, and this would prepare the ground to extend and develop the highway network in Pakistan.