ISLAMABAD, Aug 9: Pakistan has so far failed to benefit from the true potential of Motorway (M-2), but a plan is under consideration to commercialize the highway in a best possible way, secretary communications Iftikhar Rashid said.
Both Iftikhar Rashid and National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman Maj-Gen Farrukh Javaid told reporters here on Saturday that the annual revenue generated through the M-2 was Rs450 million against its operating cost of Rs350 million, showing that the government earned only Rs100 million a year.
The outstanding amount which the government owed to the private construction company was Rs637 million, but due to the restructuring of loans, we still have not started paying back to the company, they said.
Mr Rashid said an agreement had been signed between Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyz Republic on traffic-in- transit, under which 200 road permits would be issued to every member country for a period of 15 months. The implementation of the agreement will be started in the first week of October.
He said Pakistan being the host country, would print the requisite permits, the specimen of which would be sent by the three countries soon.
The agreement was actually signed between the four countries in March 1995, but due to issue of road permits and transit fee, its implementation was delayed.
The secretary expressed the hope that with the implementation of the agreement, the trade and traffic among the member countries would receive the desired impetus.
“The geographical location of Pakistan and availability of developed communication network provides an ideal corridor to the landlocked countries of Central Asia for access to warm waters of Indian Ocean through our ports in Karachi and the upcoming Gwadar Port,” he said, adding that the timing was ideal and if we missed the chance, our competitors, which included Iran, would take advantage of this opportunity.
He said Pakistan was reasonably well connected with its neighbours through land routes. The Karakorram Highway provides an all weather road linkage with the Central Asian Republics through China.
Replying to a question, Mr Rashid said the construction on the Jallabad-Torkham road, which Pakistan had undertaken from its own resources, would start within next two months.
He also dispelled the impression that the Afghan government would prefer to utilize the road infrastructure being offered to it by Iran. He said an Afghan minister, during a recent meeting, he admitted that Pakistani infrastructure was cheaper and shorter. He said the entire focus of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank was on the Central Asian States, and it was time that we should take advantage of this window of opportunity.
The distances to the Pakistani ports were the shortest for a majority of Central Asian countries, which meant significant saving of time and money, he said.
Mr Rashid said the port at Karachi could provide fast and dependable access to the Gulf, Africa and Europe and substantially cut transport time and cost compared to pacific routes.
He informed the reporters that the coastal highway would be completed by the middle of 2004.
The NHA chairman said Pakistan’s progress would remain stagnant till the means of transportation did not attain a minimum speed of 80 kilometres. Presently, the maximum speed of our trucks and trailers was 40 kilometres and a recent study had suggested an operating loss of Rs32 billion due to snail-pace transportation.
However, the NHA was involved in a plan to make our roads true service providers, he said.
He said formal inaugural of the Faisalabad-Pindi Bhatian motorway would be held on August 14, but in a low profile manner in view of the floods.