LAHORE, Nov 5: The National Highway Authority (NHA) will work as an autonomous institution, Federal Minister for Communications Javed Ashraf Qazi said on Tuesday.

Opening the NHA’s regional headquarters building at Thokar Niaz Beg here, he said the authority would no more remain under any ministry.

The communications minister would only supervise the working of the institution and would have no role in recommending award of contracts to any party, he added.

He said the NHA improved its performance after 19 corruption cases of its officials were sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

He said foreign construction companies had been brought under a new code according to which they were being paid in Pakistani currency after awarding them contracts in open auctions.

They were not being offered any special incentives ignoring local investors, who were being preferred in the award of contracts, he added.

Referring to the allegations of PML-N’s information secretary Siddiqul Farooq, the minister said he had moved the NAB for invoking one of its laws under which filing of wrong complaints was punishable.

NHA chairman Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed said the Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad motorway would be completed within next 18 months.

To ensure smooth flow of traffic in thickly-populated areas, the authority had planned to construct flyovers. The first flyover would be built in Noshera, he added.

He said the NHA regional office had been built at a cost of Rs73 million to locate all departments of the authority at one place earlier scattered in Lahore city.

A guest house and an auditorium would be constructed at the site in the next phase, he said.