June 11, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 06, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 10: The transport and communications sector accounts for about 10 per cent of GDP and 22 per cent of Gross Fixed Capital Formation in the outgoing financial year, according to Economic Survey 2007-08.

The survey released here on Tuesday says that a well performing transport and communication structure is vital for the country’s development. Investment in infrastructure directly affects economic growth as producers find the best markets for their goods, reducing transportation time and cost, and generating employment opportunities.

This sector provides over 2.3 million jobs in the country (6 per cent of all employment) and receives 12 to 15 per cent of funds from Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). Apart from being a significantly large source of budgetary expenditure, the transportation sector imposes huge demand on energy supply, absorbing approximately 35 per cent of total energy annually.

The country has a reasonably developed transport infrastructure and generates a total domestic transport load of around 239 billion passenger kilometres and 153 billion ton kilometres annually. The growth in demand for transportation services is considerably higher than growth in GDP.

The survey terms road transport the backbone of the communication system. The 9574 km long national highway and motorway network – which is 3.65 per cent of the total road network – carries 80 per cent of the country’s total traffic.

Over the past 10 years, road traffic – both passenger and freight – has grown significantly faster than the national economy. Currently, it is accounting for 91 per cent of national passenger traffic and 96 per cent of freight.

However, neglect of other modes of transportation in favour of improvement of the road infrastructure has been a prevalent problem in the country’s transportation sector, the survey notes.