ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development on Friday criticised delay of more than 10 years in the completion of highways and motorways in Balochistan and said the National Highway Autho­rity (NHA) was not taking action against those responsible for the delay.

Various reasons for the delay were presented to the committee by NHA officials.

Senator Kauda Babar said: “There is only one rule; either the FWO [Frontier Works Organisation] will get the contract or there will be trouble in that area.”

He was responding to an answer by NHA Chairman Jawad Malik that a 51km section of M-8 (Ratodero-Khuzdar motorway) was scheduled to be completed in 2006 but its new expected completion date was December.

Committee chairman Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani also took serious notice of the NHA briefing that work on only five kilometres was remaining on the 250km M-8 motorway.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2019