ISLAMABAD: The National Highways Authority (NHA) opposed on Wednesday the establishment of toll plazas on different strategic highways as was suggested by audit officials.

During the scrutiny of communications ministry’s accounts, Maqbool Gondal, the director general of audit, informed the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that “due to non-establishment of toll plazas, the national exchequer has suffered a loss of Rs5.7 billion”.

He said the NHA collected revenue for repair and maintenance of roads.

According to the audit report, “there is mismanagement on the part of NHA towards discharge of its functions and other duties... each project contains a cost benefit analysis, recurring annual maintenance cost and projected toll income after completion of the project.

The NHA has not only failed in mobilising additional opportunities of revenue, it has also failed in materialising available opportunities”.

According to the report, establishing toll plaza on newly-constructed roads will be a regular source of income for the NHA, but the Authority has never made serious efforts for availing of this opportunity.

Communications Secretary Shahid Ashraf Tarrar opposed setting up toll plazas on every highway.

“The audit authorities seem to be over enthusiastic in establishing toll plazas as they even suggested setting up of a toll plaza on the Torkham-Jalalabad highway being built by the NHA in Afghanistan.”

The NHA could not establish a toll plaza as the Torkham-Jalalabad section falls under the jurisdiction of Afghanistan,” Mr Tarrar said.

He said the NHA preferred not to establish toll plazas in some remote or lawless areas where flow of traffic was comparatively low.

The audit authorities also pointed out that over the past few years, the NHA’s cash development loan had exceeded manifold and it had surpassed Rs900 billion.

Mr Tarrar, however, claimed that this in fact was not a loan but funds released by the federal government for building new highways.

He claimed that the NHA would generate Rs351bn from newly-constructed highways.

The PAC, however, settled these audit paras and admitted that it was the prerogative of the NHA to take a decision about establishment of toll plazas on certain roads.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2016