A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications was told on Tuesday that a single individual had allegedly secured the majority of toll plaza contracts by operating through multiple companies.
The meeting, chaired by Syed Hafeezuddin, was informed that 109 toll plazas had been established, with the tendering process completed for 90 of them. Officials from the National Highway Authority (NHA) said that 10 toll plazas had been awarded to the National Logistics Corporation (NLC), while the rest went to private companies.
The committee convener alleged that one individual had created multiple companies and used them to secure most of the toll plaza contracts. He added that the matter had been widely reported in the media and was well known in Sindh.
The committee directed the NHA to submit the complete tendering records for the toll plazas by its next meeting, and summoned the NHA chairman and the secretary of the Ministry of Communications to appear before it. The convener warned that if the two officials failed to attend, the committee would initiate privilege proceedings against them.
Separately, NHA officials told the committee that insufficient and delayed funding remained a key reason for the slow progress of infrastructure projects. They said that projects could be completed within their stipulated timeframes if financing were released on time, instead of being disbursed in annual installments.
The committee also expressed concern over delays in the completion of development projects and sought detailed briefings on the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway project and the Port Qasim-to-M9 road project.
