NHA Expects Rs. 24.8 Billion in Revenues But Still Needs Govt Funds

The National Highway Authority (NHA) is expected to generate a revenue of Rs 24.8 billion in 2017-18 while the recommended annual maintenance plan (AMP) 2017-18 amounts to Rs. 27.263 billion.

The Executive Board of the NHA, which met with Chairman NHA Shahid Ashraf Tarar heading the meeting, has approved the AMP-2017-18.

NHA’s Revenue Breakdown

According to the available documents, NHA is expected to generate Rs. 24.8 billion in 2017-18 including:

• Rs. 19.94 billion from toll income
• Rs. 1.932 billion from police fine
• Rs. 1.7 billion from ROW
• Rs. 252 million from weigh fine income
• Rs. 975 million from others (interest, sale of tender, NoC etc).

NHA Fund Requirements

In order to maintain and upkeep the highway network, NHA requires more funds than available under AMP 2017-18 as per the Highway Development and Management (HDM-4) analysis.

However, as per the available revenue envelope, AMP for 2017-18 amounting to Rs. 27.263 billion has been prepared. In addition to this, funds for previous years’ AMPs carry forward with work worth Rs. 21.269 billion completed under this year’s AMP.

Documents further revealed that due to a delay in procurement of maintenance works of previous years, these contracts could not be completed in time.

An amount of Rs. 21.269 billion was made available for previous year’s works as carry forward amount under this AMP. NHA has estimated grants of Rs. 2.46 billion for the fiscal year 2017-18.

According to the documents, NHA’s maintenance fund allocation by the Government of Pakistan is not even 5% of the actual annual needs. Whereas, funds amounting to Rs. 60 billion are now required annually to maintain the national highway network, NHA’s maintenance allocation has ranged around Rs. 21-23 billion per annum only.

The maintenance resources remain about 60% short of the requirement. Efforts are underway to increase the revenue resource to the tune of Rs. 30 billion in next three years, Intervention from other sources will help bring NHA’s network to a level where it can be sustained with available resources.

About Pakistan’s Road Network and NHA

Pakistan’s total road network is around 264,401 KMs which carries over 96 percent of inland freight and 92 percent of passenger traffic.

NHA is the custodian of 39 national highways/motorways/expressways/strategic routes having a total length of 12,131 KMs.

It is just 4.6% of total national road network i.e. 264,401 KMs, however, it carries 80% of commercial traffic and N-5 which is blood-line of Pakistan, carries 65% of this load in the country.

Rut Depth and Cracking Analysis

The total kilometers of NHA network surveyed during the year 2017 are 10,686. Out of 10,686 KMs, about 66.69% which is 7,126 KMs are un-rutted. About 30.10% which is 3,217 KMs in length have a rut depth between 6-12 mm. Severe rutting i.e. more than 40 mm in depth is only on 0.46% of NHA’s network which comes to 49 KMs.

The cracking (structural) analysis for the current year shows that 5,248 KMs ,which is about 49.11% of the total surveyed kilometers, has less than 2 mm cracks and 1.60% which is 171 KMs is un-cracked.

Road Roughness

The second major contributor in pavement performance evaluation is road roughness. As per the annual roughness survey, about 55.17% of the road network ranges between good to fair. In relation to roughness, it has been observed that:

• 36.82% of the network is in good condition (Less than 3 IRI),
• 18.34% is in fair condition (3 to 4 IRI),
• 23.17% is in poor condition (4 to 6 IRI)
• 21.66% is in very poor condition (more than 6 IRI).

The present average network roughness is 4.40 IRI (10,686 KM), which shows a decrease this year as compared to the previous year’s results.

NHA maintained that it is high time to re-shift their focus on long overlays and localized rehabilitation to keep the road infrastructure at the optimum level of maintenance.

Operations and Serviceability

Operations and serviceability in AMP 2017-18 and hence introduction of new rehabilitation, periodic (structural as well as functional) maintenance, highway safety maintenance will be undertaken along with:

• new routine maintenance schemes,
• global allocation which covers emergency maintenance allocation,
• special maintenance,
• preventive maintenance,
• corridor management,
• toll plazas & weigh stations maintenance,
• consultancy services,
• geometrics improvement,

and bridge/culvert structural maintenance etc. along with some portion for administrative expenses and promotion of sports and cultural activities will be considered.

The maximum benefits are achieved in the form of reduction in Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC).

If an investment of Rs. 2 billion per year on maintenance of roads is made, Rs. 59 billion benefit is achieved vis-à-vis reduction in VOC. After incurring an expenditure of Rs. 10 billion/year on road maintenance, benefits to the tune of Rs. 244 billion are achieved.