June 28, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 1, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, June 27: The ministry of communication has taken notice of the unilateral decision of the National Highway Authority (NHA) to initiate a Rs900 million project of redesigning and remodelling of Makran Coastal Highway without its approval, sources told Dawn.

According to the sources, the remodelling would cost an additional Rs1 billion to the taxpayers as the government had already spent over Rs100 million on repairing of the highway, which was damaged due to flash floods in February last year within three months of its completion.

The Rs12 billion highway was inaugurated by President Gen Pervez Musharraf in December 2004.

The sources said senior officials of the ministry of communication blamed the NHA for faulty designing and construction of the highway while the NHA chairman, Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed, denied the charges and claimed that the road was damaged due to an unusual and abnormal climatic change in the area.

Federal Minister for Communication Shamim Siddiqui, when contacted, said it was true that an amount of additional Rs900 million was being spent on the coastal highway. He, however, said no approval of the ministry had been sought by the NHA for the new project. In response to a question, he said the matter should have been brought before the National Highway Council for approval.

The sources said the government had already spent over Rs100 million on repairing the damaged highway and now within one year the NHA was planning some remedial and additional works on the highway at a cost of about Rs900 million.

The sources said the ministry had expressed its displeasure over the NHA’s move to invite tenders from the construction companies for the redesigning of the highway at a cost of about Rs900 million without seeking permission from it.

The sources said the ministry had recently written a letter to the NHA chairman expressing its concern over the process for awarding contracts for “additional and remedial works” in the flood-affected areas of Lyari-Ormara section and Ormara-Pasni section of the highway.

Through the letter, the ministry has stated that the number of contractors has been very limited and competition was not satisfactory, particularly on the Ormara-Pasni section. The sources said the ministry was perturbed over the reports that the amount of the lowest bidders on two sections were 13 to 30 per cent higher than the estimates.

When contacted, the NHA chairman said the phenomenon of rain was very unusual in the area where floods hit the highway last year. He said the damaged road was repaired at a cost of about Rs103 million and the expenditure was borne by the contractor. He said the additional work would have to be carried out to ensure uninterrupted traffic flow on the highway.

The NHA chairman said they had only invited tenders for the redesigning of the highway and the contracts would be awarded next month after the issue would be taken up by the highway council. He criticised those scandalising the NHA and levelling allegations on the institution without even having knowledge of the engineering and construction works.