03 May 2004	Monday	12 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

An efficient transport and communication system is a pre- requisite to the attainment of higher economic growth, rapid human sector development and timely integration with global trade and commerce.

Such a network contributes to the improvement in productivity and reduction in the costs, whereas an inefficient network hinders economic growth and social sector developments.

Historically, developments in transport and communications had been a critical priority for the state and the government not only for effective governance but also for efficient economic management, revenue collection, rapid industrialisation, and protection of the country's frontiers.

Since the ancient time, the regional and international trade and commerce have been facilitated by easily accessible and secure trade routes, road links and sea-lanes.

The Grand Trunk Road, constructed by Muslim rulers in India and the famous Silk Route served as important links between various regions and civilisations through trade and cultural exchanges.

The British colonial power in the subcontinent also assigned top priority in the accelerated development of roads and railway system to effectively connect all-important areas, cities and business centres.

If Pakistan wants to move ahead quickly on its socio- economic front and become an economic power it must improve its network of roads and railway system. China and India are already doing this.

A concurrent boom in their construction and infrastructure sectors has accompanied the impressive growth performance of China and India. While uninterrupted high growth momentum in China dates back to early 1980s, India has been a newcomer.

Although, at a much slower pace than China, India is nevertheless, accelerating its GDP growth since mid 1990s. India's ramshackle infrastructure is finally giving to smoother roads and streamlined telecommunication.

India's southern and western coastal provinces are witnessing huge construction boom in the transport and communication sector, to supplement their economic and investment activities.

China has built more high type roads, motorways and expressways in the last few years than it had built between 1949- 90. China is not only modernizing its existing road network but it is also assigning top priority to the construction of a modern railway system.

If Pakistan wants to achieve a growth between 6 and 8 percent in the coming years, it must usher in a transport and communication revolution, through increased public and private sector participations.

Investment in the overall infrastructure sector, including modern roads and telecommunication is however, a costly business, which cannot be undertaken by the government alone. Private sector should also be engaged in a big way.

In the past infrastructure development was the sole responsibility of the government. That is why only some modest achievement was possible in this sector. The transport and communication sector in the past has not received the priority it deserved.

The acceleration in the tempo of development activities and the consequent demand for mobility is constantly increasing the pressure on the existing transport and communication network, requiring continuous rehabilitation, expansion, updating and modernisation as an integrated system.

Pakistan could not yet achieve equilibrium between the demands of high type roads and modern railway system and their actual availability. Railways route kilometres have in fact, declined in Pakistan from 8817 in 1980-81 to 7791 in 2002-03.

Total freight carried by the Pakistan railway has also declined from 11 million tons since 1980-81 to only 5.86 million tons in 2002-03. This indicates declining efficiency of an old and dilapidated railway system in Pakistan.

Presently, bulk of the inland freight is carried by long route trucks, bases and other carriers, putting extra burden on the over burdened road network. Due to manifold increase in passenger and freight traffic fatal road accidents have become every day occurance.

Although high type roads have increased from 38,035 kilometres in 1980-81 to 151,028 in 2002-03, this is not enough to cope with more than proportionate increase in the movement of passengers, freights, and motor vehicles on roads.

To meet the unprecedented future demand of freights, passengers and the prospective transit trade, Pakistan has at least to double her investment in the transport and communication sector immediately.

Fortunately, Pakistan's major transport and communication network runs from north to south and south to north, requiring minimum bridges and culverts. Moreover, natural stones are abundantly available in all part of the country to build durable roads.

In Pakistan, large segment of the society prefer to travel by road . The National Highways Network consisting of 8,845 km is 3.5 per cent of the total road length. The government has decided to increase the national average road density from 0.23 km/sq km to 0.3 sq km areas. A highly developed transport and communication system is urgently required on the following grounds;

*to enter into the club of the middle-income group of countries, by 2010, Pakistan must achieve annual GDP growth of above 6 per cent during the next 5-6 years. This is only possible with a modern network of high type roads connecting all parts of the country and its industrial centres, textile cities and commodity markets;

*even at the existing rate of growth in its international trade, Pakistan will have to handle big volumes of goods and services approaching up to $40 billion per annum, in the near future. Most of the outgoing and incoming trading goods have a passthrough roads, and railway system. This postulates that an efficient transport and communication system is inevitable;

*Pakistan is already being projected as the hub of future transit trades between Afghanistan, the Central Asian states and China with the rest of the world. To materialize this dream huge investments have to come up for this sector.

*As most Pakistanis prefer to travel by road, future passenger and freight loads will increase manifold. Due to poor condition of the existing roads thousands of valuable lives are lost and hundreds of thousand are rendered disabled each year. To save so many precious live, the existing road network need to be revamped.

*Such a network is also essential for meaningful economic cooperation amongst nations, particularly in the area of trade and tourism. Foreign exchange market and the tourism industry will get a big boost through an advance road and transport system.

*Availability of better roads will definitely reduce the energy consumption, particularly of fuel, thus improving the country's balance of payment position in future.