PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday sought detailed report from National Highway Authority (NHA) within a fortnight about slow pace of work on Indus Highway rehabilitation project.

A bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice SM Attique Shah and Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan observed that delay in completion of the project including dualisation of Indus Highway had been causing frequent accidents resulting in loss of precious human lives.

The bench also sought report from Kohat regional police officer on security arrangements made on the highway in his jurisdiction. The bench was hearing issues related to conditions of important highways and roads in the province including Indus Highway, Booni-Buzhung Road, Swat Expressway and Hazara Motorway, etc.

In one of the previous hearings in Sep, the court haddirected the general manager (construction) of NHA to utilise all available resources so that the road must be restored to a condition that was free from hazards, such as potholes, depressions, cracks and uneven surfaces and must meet the highest standards of safety, engineering and construction.

The PHC chief justice observed that inhabitants of southern districts of the province were not before the court, but it was the high court`s responsibility to address their sufferings.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general, Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, the assistant attorney general, Atif Nazir, NHA`s member Amjad Ali, Kohat Commissioner Muthasim Billah Shah and NHA`s counsel Sikander Rasheed appeared before the court along with other officials.

When the bench inquired about possible completion of the project, NHA member Amjad Ali said that work from Peshawar to Dera Ismail Khan was supposed to be completed in two years, but it hadn`t been finished due to a shortage of funds.

Referring to law and order situation, the bench observed that currently southern districts were on fire; Kohat, Bannu, and DI Khan divisions were burning.

The bench observed that NHAwas supposed to convert Indus Highway`s single road into a dual carriageway. It said that even the portion, which had been dualised, was also under severe traffic pressure.

The NHA member said that drivers were also at fault in accidents on the highway. The a court query about the required funds, he said that Rs1.5 billion was received earlier, and an additional Rs4 billion was also received. He added that Rs9.8 billion was required to complete the work.

The PHC chief justice directed that the project should be given priority during midyear review by NHA. He observed when he had gone there, he witnessed no substantial security arrangement.

The Kohat commissioner stated that the area was highrisk from security point of view as security personnel were frequently martyred in acts of terrorism.

Despite this, he said, they had made full efforts to ensure deployment of traffic personnel at points with heavy traffic and police personnel at sensitive locations.

He pointed out that currently, there was only one weigh station on the entire Indus Highway from DI Khan to Kohat, and contrary to relevant rules more than 300,000 tonnes of illegal loading was transported on itmonthly. He added that there was no check on that, causing deterioration of the highway.

The commissioner said that they had written to relevant authorities, and all four commissioners including that of Kohat, Peshawar, DI Khan and Bannu had held meetings on the issue.

He said that all regional police officers also agreed to deploy security personnel as much as possible.

He requested that directives may be issued to authorities in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan not to send vehicles with excessive weight. He added that mobile weigh stations should be set up at different locations to check weight.

The NHA member informed the bench that there was one fixed weigh station in Kohat and there was one mobile station. He added that the overloaded 22-wheeler container trucks were coming from Port Qasim.

The bench suggested that if those trucks with excessive weights were offloaded once, they would realise their mistake and would not repeat the same again. It suggested that a meeting should be held with ministry of communications and proper legislation should be done regarding fines.

The bench directed NHA to also submit a report about arrangements for mobile weigh stations.