Daily Times

The federal government has planned to recrudesce Highway Research and Training Centre (HRTC) at National Highway Authority (NHA) in order to train engineers to enhance the standards of national highways and motorways in the country, Daily Times has learnt reliably.

The sources in the Ministry of Communication said that the purpose of the establishment of the Centre is to train registered engineers of the authority to maintain the condition of the roads in the country fall in the ambit of the NHA. It will develop indigenous standards of pavements.

The sources added that the centre offers research and training services to road and highway engineers to help them develop innovative methods to help maintain roads and highways in an efficient way.

A senior official at the NHA explained this scribe while wishing anonymity that HRTC was established in 2017. However, he recalled, the new government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) could not make the center in proper functioning.

Now after a gap of almost 6 years, the interim government in joint cooperation with the Chinese government started working to revive the abandoned center of the NHA. A statement from the Prime Minister Office also said that caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar Ul Haq Kakar has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard with Chinese authorities in his recent official visit to China.

Under plan, establishment of a research Institute under HRTC is also under consideration on 530 acres of land, already acquired by the NHA at cost Rs 520 million.

The institute will also conduct studies of long-term pavement performance under controlled and uncontrolled conditions. Similarly, various research projects in reclaimed asphalt, bridges and tunneling, training and degree courses in China and development of engineering design manuals and standards for Pakistan are also included in it

An official at the NHA wished not to be named told this scribe that as per initial plan, the Chinese consultant is supposed to build said institute. A Chinese grant of $52 million is also part of the MoU. It includes infrastructure, a test track and indoor and outdoor lab equipment. After completion and required training, it will be handed over to the NHA for operation.

The sources stated that after the MoU that project will be definitely executed in the proper way after fulfilling some coddle formalities by the NHA and Ministry of Communication.

As per available information, when it was launched in 2017 the centre had been looked after by NHA as its subsidiary.

The NHA sources further disclosed that for carrying out indigenous research in various faculties of highway engineering not limited to pavements, bridges, tunneling environmental engineering, hydraulics and Geotech, but also covering technical training.

He explained that HRTC also affiliated various engineering institutes in research, especially in pavements, including National University of Science & Technology (NUST). The highway authority has also proposed Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) Tunneling Institute to become an associate in research in tunneling, he added.