12 April 2005	Tuesday	02 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 11: Inadequate maintenance and increasing load is damaging the road network, official sources say. They told Dawn that Rs3 billion a year was required to simply maintain the road infrastructure. According to official sources and some World Bank experts, an investment of Rs7.7 billion a year for six consecutive years could improve the NHA road network. Latest surveys showed that 50 per cent of the National Highway Authority’s network required major rehabilitation, and in some cases reconstruction.

The remaining 50 per cent will go waste if adequate maintenance and rehabilitation measures were not taken immediately.

“Data show that 76 per cent of NHA’s network has cracked,” the NHA has informed the higher authorities. It said that from severe to highly severe cracks existed on approximately 41 per cent of the network.

In other words, that much of the network has lost its structural integrity and load carrying capacity.

“The growing volume in traffic, the shifting of the mode of travel from rail to roads and inadequate maintenance are deteriorating the infrastructure at an alarming rate,” the NHA had told the higher authorities, seeking substantial funding for rehabilitating the road network across the country.

Data show that 58 per cent of the NHA’s network has rutted.

Medium to highly severe rutting existed on approximately 27 per cent of the network.

“Put differently, that much of the network poses a serious safety hazard since it has wheel-path ruts an inch deep.”

Initially, the NHA had proposed improvement and upgradation of the 165-kilometre Noshki-Dalbandin section (National Highway N-40) at a cost of Rs2 billion.

The N-40, which begins from Lakhpass and passes through Nushki, Dalbandin and Nokkundi in Taftan, links several Pakistani cities to Iran.

The road is 607 kilometres long, out of which about 165 kilometres are being considered for rehabilitation.

The highways in Balochistan played an important role from a regional perspective, especially for traffic between Pakistan and Iran and providing access to ports in southern part of the country.

Several sections of the N-40, however, are too narrow and in poor condition, which increases operating costs for motorists and compromises their safety as well.

This road, the NHA maintained, constituted an important section in the National Highway system as it fed the western part of Balochistan.

The area served by this road is full of natural resources and minerals, and improving its level of service will enhance development in the region.