KARACHI, Oct 31: One of the written answers given by Minister for Works and Services Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani to legislators’ questions in the Sindh Assembly on Thursday made it clear to everyone that there are no standards regarding rates of road repair in the province.

The question, asked by Heer Soho of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, pertained to the cost of road repair paid by the department to two different contractors.

The minister stated that an amount of Rs199.8 million was paid for the restoration of just 5.6 kilometres of a damaged road in Larkana district. As part of the same reply, he said that a sum of Rs3.074 million was spent to get over 493 kilometres of roads repaired in Thatta district.

Ms Soho was not present when the written answers were circulated among legislators and the matter could also not be discussed through supplementary questions owing to paucity of time during the question hour.

Nusrat Sehar Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional wanted to know about the rate of toll tax being charged at the newly constructed Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual carriageway.

She also asked for how long it would be collected and who would be getting the money. The minister said that the toll tax ranged between Rs20 and Rs175 per vehicle depending on its size and would be collected for 30 years by the Korean contractor that had invested over Rs6 billion in the project.

In reply to another question regarding public complaints about charging of the full amount of toll tax from users of a part of the carriageway, the minister said the government had received such complaints and was looking into the issue. He said the government was trying to devise a policy to resolve the issue.

Irum Farooqui of the MQM asked why the roads were not being built with better material to ensure an enhanced durability and shaped like those in Europe to prevent accumulation of water in the middle. The minister welcomed the suggestion on shape but argued that use of better material would ultimately push up the cost.

Responding to another question by the same lawmaker regarding construction of trauma centres along and close to highways for road accident victims, the minister held out the assurance that the suggestion would be given consideration.

MPA Abbasi also asked about the number of bridges constructed between 2008 and 2013 in different districts. The minister said that 15 bridges were constructed in Khairpur district, seven in Shaheed Benazirabad district and six were built in Larkana district during the period.

He said one bridge each was constructed in Karachi, Sanghar, Thatta, Ghotki and Naushahro Feroze, adding that no bridge had been built in Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Dadu, Umerkot, Matiari, Tando Allahyar and Tando Mohammad Khan. He put the total number of bridges built during the period across Sindh at 48.

Heer Soho asked about the number of bridges built on the directives of the chief minister. The minister stated that the number of such bridges was 31.

Replying to a question about Asian Development Bank-funded schemes of road repair, Mr Bijarani said that under an agreement, over 800 kilometres of roads destroyed by the 2010 super floods in Kashmore-Kandhkot, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Dadu, Jamshoro and Thatta districts had been reconstructed/rehabilitated at a cost of over Rs12.56 billion.

He said 90 per cent of the funds were provided by the ADB under its Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project (FERP) and the rest by the Sindh government.