July 15, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 14: Federal Communication Minister Ahmad Ali who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) said on Monday that the National Highway Authority, whose annual budget runs into billions of rupees, maintains no balance-sheet, and despite his repeated orders he has not been shown the financial picture of the Authority.

The communication minister who took oath as minister about a month ago told Dawn that he had been flooded with complaints of corruption in the National Highway Authority.

He said he had been telling the people who approached him with allegations of corruption that they should come up with proofs and then he would be able to take action against the officials involved in corruption.

The minister said it was correct that a large number of uniformed officers were occupying posts in the National Highway Authority. He said his government had made a policy that in future no uniformed officer on deputation in the NHA would get extension.

The federal minister said he was not satisfied with the performance of a Vigilance Cell established to check corruption in the ministry by his predecessor, Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi, a former ISI chief.

“I have asked the people of the Vigilance Cell to come up with proofs against big fishes, and I will take action,” the minister said.

The minister said he was working to minimise corruption in his ministry, because eradicating the menace was almost impossible. “To eradicate corruption, you have to put your life in danger and in departments which deal with public, corruption creeps in invariably.”

The communication minister said he was concentrating his attention on the Karachi Port Trust, which on paper was making profit, despite the fact that its 50 per cent space continues to remain unutilised. He said the KPT rates were on the higher side, and that was why its space was not being fully utilised.

Out of its 14 berths, he said, seven remained vacant all the time, and added that he was endeavouring to make 100 per cent utilization of its space.

He said the dock labour has become a problem. Despite becoming redundant after the automation of loading and unloading of ships, the dock workers were getting Rs15000 per month per labourer on an average for doing nothing. “Out of 30 days a month, a dock labour of KPT works only for four days,” the minister revealed.

The KPT has to pay the dock workers one billion rupees an year without any rhyme and reason. “If the redundant labour is shunted out, the KPT will save at least Rs1 billion annually.

About the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, he said the government wanted to privatise it. “Its value is not because of its ships but because of its valuable property.” He said if the PNSC was not given contract for transportation of oil, it would incur heavy losses.

About the Port Qasim Authority, he said the economic activity at the Port Qasim was nil and the people who had purchased plots there were not constructing building there. “I have issued them notices that if they failed to construct buildings for which they were allotted plots, their plots would be cancelled after six months.

He said an inquiry report about the Bulk Water Supply project to the KPT, had proved that the national exchequer had suffered Rs750 million loss due to the negligence of some officials, but no action was taken against those responsible for this loss.