Pakistan calls poor planning the main problem of road projects
Pakistan’s Special Secretary of the Ministry of Communications Ali Sher Mehsud admitted at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee in Islamabad that poor planning is the weakest link of the National Highway Authority in implementing road projects. Committee members complained about the condition of major highways and delays in road construction, Dawn reports.
Jaglot–Skardu Road
The meeting focused on audit observations concerning the authority’s activities for 2024–2025. During the first 90 minutes, participants discussed recommendations for improving the agency’s work before moving on to audit issues.
One observation concerned uncompleted work worth 4.3 billion Pakistani rupees on a 167-kilometre section of the Jaglot–Skardu road. The contract for improving, upgrading and widening the road was awarded to the Frontier Works Organisation.
According to Mehsud, there are 16 landslide-prone sections on the route. Two landslides damaged the road last year, while another two last month delayed the project, which had initially been scheduled for completion in November 2022. The official assured the committee that the Jaglot–Skardu road would be completed by December 2026.
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The Office of the Auditor General stated that a financial adjustment or deduction must be made because the contractor failed to fulfil its obligations for the remaining work.
Audit observations
Another audit observation concerned design shortcomings, due to which additional work was included through a variation order without open competition. According to the audit’s estimate, this resulted in losses to the state treasury of 4.080 billion rupees. It concerns the construction of an approximately 11.8-kilometre four-lane bypass road, including the existing Spina More section, which was not part of the original project to upgrade the Indus Highway N-55 between Karak and Kohat.
The audit also noted that, as part of the construction, rehabilitation and widening of the Chitral–Kalash Valley road, the authority made advance payments to the contractor amounting to 1.869 billion rupees due to the indexation of the cost of temporary works without approval from the competent authority. The Office of the Auditor General instructed that the project consultant be blacklisted, the authority’s project unit be strengthened and the outcome be reported. Mehsud said that the consultant had already been blacklisted and that the planning unit was being strengthened with a specialised team.
