PESHAWAR, Jan 18: The National Highway Authority (NHA) and the newly-established Frontier Highway Authority (FHA) are running differences over the control of Nowshehra-Chakdara-Chitral highway, as the former believes that the provincial government could not claim the road unless it was de-federalized.

Dawn has learnt on good authority that the NWFP government through a notification issued in December 2001 handed over eight roads in the province and in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to FHA, including Nowshehra- Chakdara-Chitral-Mastuj-Shandur highway.

The main bone of contention between the two bodies is said to be the huge toll tax collected annually at the Khairabad toll plaza. The government receives Rs19 million in the head of toll tax at Khairabad in a year.

Seven other roads, which have been handed over to FHA, are: Peshawar-Charsadda-Mardan-Swabi-Topi-Kalabat-Haripur; Chakdara- Mingora-Khawazakhela-Besham; Timergara-Munda-Khar-Nawagai- Ghallani-Pir Qilla-Peshawar; Hattar-Haripur-Maqsood-Lora-Ghora Galli; Khairabad-D.I. Khan (Indus Right Bank Highway); Khushalgarh-Kohat-Thall-Parachinar, and Thall-Mirali-Isha-Razmak- Jandola-Khirgi-Tank-D.I.Khan.

Sources in the NHA confided to this scribe that the federal cabinet declared Nowshehra-Chadara-Chitral road a national highway in September 1999 and the NHA was directed to rehabilitate the road. In the wake of the federal cabinet decision, the NHA deputed two units to execute rehabilitation and maintenance work and the authority spent Rs3.5 million on the work.

The sources said that the provincial government overruled the federal government decision and without taking the NHA into confidence handed over the road to the FHA. The NHA officials argued that unless the centre de-federalized the road, the provincial government had no authority to take over the highway.

A source in the NHA, told on the condition of anonymity that the NWFP governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah was an ardent supporter of handing over highways to the NHA when he was serving as federal minister for communication. “But now, he has suddenly changed his mind and handed over the management and construction of highways to the FHA,” he said.

The official said: “Fata roads do not fall under the FHA jurisdiction, a provincial body, but the governor also gave their (roads) occupancy to the FHA.”

Other provinces which have a big network of roads have no such provincial bodies. The retired military officials, he said, have created the FHA to seek fresh jobs. Even the finance department had reservations over the creation of the FHA, the official source said, adding that on the one hand the government started downsizing and right-sizing of the public sector, and on the other hand the FHA was established.

Well-placed sources said that the government was likely to levy toll tax on district roads in the province which might lead to disputes between district governments in future.

A senior official of the FHA said though the then federal cabinet had directed the NHA to take over the highway, the documentation of the process could not be completed. He said that the provincial government had directed the NHA to start maintenance work on the 1,360km-long road, adding that the NHA had failed to show progress towards that end.

The concerned official said that the NHA head had been informed verbally about the decision. He said that the provincial body would soon execute rehabilitation on the first phase of the highway and an amount to this effect had already been earmarked.