Daily Times

The National Highway Authority (NHA) is intensifying efforts to bridge its financial shortfalls, tackling an accumulated throw-forward exceeding Rs 200 billion. The authority aims to enhance revenue streams and mitigate the persistent financial discrepancies it faces annually, said a senior official told Daily Times.

He said, on the condition of anonymity, that increasing revenue is essential to ensure the authority’s financial stability. “The higher authorities including chairman and communications minister are keen on enhancing revenue,” he said, adding that improvements can be achieved through solid policies and proper enforcement.

“It is under consideration to launch initiatives focused on increasing revenue without placing additional strain on the national exchequer,” he further explained.

According to available documents, the department generated Rs 64,000 million during 2023-24 from various sources, while earnings of Rs 102,956 million are estimated for the ongoing fiscal year 2024.

Earlier, the NHA authorities submitted some details to the National Assembly Standing committee on Communications. According to which the throw-forward of the authority has accumulated to Rs 2226 billion. Such lower allocation results in accumulating huge backlog in the shape of throw forward and piling up of loans for the organization which also hampers projects’ execution and cost escalation.

Earlier, NHA authorities submitted details to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications, according to which the authority’s throw-forward has accumulated to Rs 2,226 billion. Lower budgetary allocations result in a significant backlog in the form of throw-forward liabilities, and the piling up of loans for the organization, which also hampers project execution and leads to cost escalation.

In a bid to enhance revenue, the NHA has increased toll rates for the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2), as per documents. The new rates have been in effect for the past four weeks.

The toll rates was escalated by 10 per cent as per the concession agreement signed with M/s Motorway Operations and Rehabilitation Engineering (Private) Limited in 2014 for the overlay and modernization of the motorway on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

The revised toll rates for different vehicle categories are: Car (per kilometre toll Rs3.38, total toll Rs1,210), wagon (Rs5.67, Rs2,030), coaster (Rs7.94, Rs2,840), bus (Rs11.32, Rs4,060), Truck (Rs14.73 Rs5,280), Trailer (Rs 18.94, Rs6,780).

The document reads that the NHA has set target to enhance its revenue by earning Rs 24,882 million per year through rationalization of toll rates. The establishment of 55 new toll plazas also under plan by which the authority would generate estimated revenue of Rs 4,330 every year.

Although the NHA’s annual revenue has significantly increased over the last five years, the department still faces a financial discrepancy of millions, with a large gap between its earnings and expenditures. Documents reveal that the authority’s revenue has nearly doubled, from Rs 32,394 million in 2018-19 to Rs 64,000 million in 2023-24. In five years, NHA has mount up money from various sources such as Rs 178,894 million from toll income, Rs 37291 million from police fine, Rs 6,197 million from weigh income. Moreover, the authority has collected Rs 23,734 through different type as fee against issuance of different NOCs and as rental charges. It has earned Rs 61,589 million from bank profit and auction in said span of five years.

A senior official privy to financial affairs of the NHA told this correspondent some irregularities were practiced in toll collection by some staff members. “Some senior authorities including Federal Minister for Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan of the view that handing over the toll collection to the private sector in those areas where there were problems in revenue collection were exist can be a solution for ensuring transparency in this process,” he revealed.

He further added that the NHA is also preparing to set its annual revenue targets as a long-term policy which will surely not only increase the efficiency and revenue of the institution but also bring a clear and positive difference.

Chairman NHA Sheheryar Sultan informed to the Communications Minister Khan in a briefing on Friday that by number of M-Tag users has been increased to more than 92 per cent while the revenue of the NHA has also been significantly improved during last six months.

The federal minister, while expressing satisfaction over the betterment, asked the NHA to adopt a Hi-Tech System and bring the entire working of National Highway Authority online in the shortest possible time.

He observed that the implementation of the best tracking system on all highways should be ensured in any case and in this regard any shortcoming will not be tolerated.

Abdul Aleem Khan further stated that the number of vehicles and all kinds of monitoring should be done on the motorways and GT roads and every vehicle should receive a message that it has paid with M-Tag or not.

He also directed the NHA to prepare its dashboards to keep the data updated on a daily basis and to build state-of-the-art monitoring rooms on the pattern of Safe City.