The Senate Standing Committee on Communications was informed that the income of the Pakistan Postal Services is around Rs. 15 billion while expenditures are Rs. 25.5 billion.
The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications was on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Senator Prince Omer Ahmedzai.
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DG Pakistan Postal services informed the committee about the performance and structure of the postal service. He informed the committee that there are 47,348 sanction posts, out of which 31,635 are regular employees, and 8,436 are vacantly positioned.
He told the committee that the income of the Pakistan postal services is around Rs. 15 billion while expenditures are Rs. 25.5 billion and the majority expenditures spent on salaries and pensions of the employees.
Secretary communication told the committee that the next year’s pension of the employee would be paid by the AGPR. Committee Chairman, Senator Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai, stressed that Pakistan postal service should take steps to improve the service just like TCS and other courier services to generate its income. It was decided that the remaining agenda would be discussed during the next meeting.
Standing Committee got a detailed briefing on the organization, function, and performance of the ministry of communication and its attached departments. The Chairman committee welcomed the member of the committee and the representatives of the ministry and its attached departments.
He said that the ministry of communications is a very important department, and we all have to work together to bring about improvement by removing hurdles in the way of smooth functions. Secretary communication ensured full cooperation for better communications.
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Chairman NHA briefed the committee about the functions, structure, PSDP projects, budget, total strength, CPEC projects, and also ongoing and new projects of NHA. He told the committee that rules are being amended according to the latest requirements of communications.
He informed that NHA signed 13 international agreements, and on projects of CPEC, joint working strategies have been adopted. He informed that the road network consists of 13,572 km in the country, out of which 2,255 km is motorway.
In PSDP projects, there are 62 projects, out of which 47 are ongoing projects, and 15 are new ones.
He briefed the committee about the western corridor project’s progress. On the question of Senator Hafiz Abdul Karim, it was informed that Hakla to DI Khan Project would be completed in September 2021, and 91 percent of work has been completed so far.
Senator Danesh Kumar raised the matter of low bidder tenders and said that it has become routine for contractors to give 30 to 40 percent lower bids than the actual cost of the project and then get revisions.
Committee chairman, Prince Omer Ahmedzai, directed NHA to take a notice of such issues. The committee was informed that to tackle the matter, a committee has been constituted, and a new policy will be adopted, following which, instead of a performance report, a bank guarantee will be received from the contractor.
Inspector General Motorway Police updated the committee about budget, performance, function and said that it is the mission of the department to provide safe traveling facilities to the people. To achieve this goal several steps have been initiated. Senator Danesh Kumar said that in new recruitment, provisional and minority quotas must be observed. Senator Saifullah Abro raised the matter of frequent local police intervention between Hyderabad to Karachi road.
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The meeting of the standing committee was attended amongst the senators, Faisal Saleem Rehman, Saifullah Abro, Danesh Kumar, Shammim Afridi, Muhammad Akram , Hafiz Abdul Karim, Secretary communication, Chairman NHA , IG National Highways and motorway police, DG Pakistan postal services and other senior officials of the concerned department.
