LAHORE, Sept 7: The National Highway Authority has decided to install weighbridges along the highways in the Punjab to check overloading in transport vehicles.

Punjab NHA general manager Chaudhry Altaf stated this while briefing federal communications secretary Iftikhar Rashid about the progress of highways construction in the province at a meeting chaired by him here on Saturday.

He said work on conversion of the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar National Highway into a dual carriageway was in full swing in the Punjab. He said over 43 per cent work had been completed on the 80-kilometre Rahim Yar Khan-Taranda Muhammad Panah section.

The secretary said the highways were a national asset and required to be protected and preserved. He stressed the need for completion of the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar highway stretch in the Punjab on priority and expediting the construction of Rahim Yar Khan-Taranda Muhammad Panah Highway and Pindi Bhattian-Faisalabad Motorway.

He said the Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar highway was playing an extraordinary role in the national economic development as all the important industrial and commercial cities were situated along it. The highway required widening and remodelling to cope with the growing traffic load.

He stressed the need for special attention on the standard of material being used in the Punjab. Modern construction techniques should be adopted for completion of the highways in accordance with the international standards, he added.

He said completion of Bund Road had a positive effect on traffic in Lahore city.

Earlier, the secretary inspected the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway and issued instructions for improvement in travelling facilities on it.

He said the government wanted to increase the traffic on the motorway. He stressed the need for concrete steps to check overloading of vehicles plying on the motorway.