Contrary to other projects in the country, Chinese companies are not bound to hire Pakistani engineers in road projects under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) package, revealed Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) Shahid Ashraf Tarar.
According to Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC), every foreign company is bound to hire at least 30 percent local engineers in their projects and the violation of such rules are depriving talented youth from jobs, said parliamentarians from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), Pakistan peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
The reservations were expressed in the National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications which met with Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi in the chair. The committee directed NHA to present a detailed report of foreign contractors and consultants and the number of local engineers hired in road projects.
Briefing the committee, Chairman NHA said that CPEC is government to government agreement where Chinese companies are not bound to hire Pakistani engineers. However the committee members expressed reservations that the ratio of unemployment is increasing and despite having engineering degrees in their hands, they are moving abroad in search of jobs.
Engineer Hamid-ul-Haq of PTI raised the issue which was strongly backed by Sar Zameen Khan of PML-N and Nazir Ahmed Bughio of PPP. The Committee directed that NHA may ensure the involvement of local Engineers and Consultants etc while initiating new government projects to avoid frustration among the local masses.
The committee members raised questions on the exorbitant increase in toll tax on motorway and directed to brief the committee on the matter. NHA officials informed that FWO has increased the toll tax and it would remain frozen till 2019. Tarar said that M-2 has been handed over to FWO which would not only maintain it but also would share revenue. NHA has so far received Rs 20 billion from FWO and will earn Rs 206 billion in next 20 years.
Chairman NHA informed the committee that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate the 80 km section of Hyderabad-Karachi road (M-9) by end of January. However the Committee was of the view that it would be appropriate if the said project would be inaugurated after its completion. Tarar said that according to the BoT agreement, after the completion of 65 km section, it can be opened that is why PM is going to inaugurate it.
Chairman NHA said that the Authority received only Rs 2 billion grant from the government which is too little for maintenance of 12,000 km road network in the country. NHA generates Rs 23-24 billion from different resources. He further said that Rs 696 million has so far generated from ROW in the current fiscal year and targeted to double the revenue from Rs 573.65 million in 2015-16 over Rs 1.1 billion in 2016-17.
The Committee expressed satisfaction over the completion of Larkana-Moen-Jo-Daro Road. However, it directed that NHA to ensure the completion of its maintenance work i.e. completion of display of Traffic Signs and Reflective Studs etc. in order to make it functional at the earliest.
Give it time.. Local help would be much cheaper and more expendable so don’t freak out over this.
pak china dosti zindabad….
tum china k sath hath milaye ho na..
china ek communist country hai..
barbad kar k chorega pakistan ko.. :D :D
hum India walo ko kuch karne ki jarurt nhi hai..
china tumlog ko lollipop dekha k sab le jayega..
Hahahaha sweet
Be serious what we have if remove CPEC from our development .so let them todo ?
Something is better than nothing! If we can’t have both CPEC and Pakistani engineers working on it, its still good to have CPEC at-least : )