Budget for new roads finishes in seven months

Author: siddique sajid

ISLAMABAD: The Communications Ministry is likely to ask for more money to construct roads as the allocated budget is about to finish in next seven.

According to the ministry sources, Rs 188 billion have been allocated in the current financial year for the National Highway Authority. The NHA has spent Rs 140 billion so far and the NHA chairman told a parliamentary body recently that the budget would cross Rs 200 billion in the current year otherwise they would not be able to complete various roads across Pakistan.

“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has directed the NHA to include some projects of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the NHA budget as well. Due to this our expenditures would be increased so we would soon send a summary to the Finance Ministry for supplementary grant,” an NHA official told Daily Times. In Pakistan and abroad the Sharifs are known for their unending love for roads. Sources said Rs 800 billion were required to complete the ongoing projects but the allocated budget was not enough to complete them in one year. “We told the prime minister in a briefing that NHA was not in a position to start any new project in the next budget because a large number of through- forward projects were still in the pipeline,” NHA sources concluded.