ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The government is taking concrete steps for development of backward regions, Communications Minister Lt-Gen (Rtd) Javed Ashraf Qazi said here on Saturday.

He was presiding over a conference held at the ministry, where countrywide communications’ development projects were reviewed.

The minister said since communications network played a vital role in the socio-economic development, all possible measures were being adopted for early completion of development projects in this field throughout the country.

He said the pace of work on dualization of Karachi-Lahore- Peshawar national highway should be geared up. He said 864km portion of this highway had been dualized at a cost of Rs19 billion.

The minister directed the authorities concerned to complete the highway projects in time. He said particular attention should be paid towards road building in the hilly regions to help promote tourism in the country.

He said a new policy on toll tax collection from highways was being adopted under which the money collected would be used for construction and maintenance of the highways.

Like the Motorway Police, he said, steps were underway to post police on the highways.