The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has declared 92% of the motorways and highways all over the country as ‘dangerous’ and ‘unsafe’ for travel.
While rejecting a report by the National Highway Authority (NHA) on the state of motorways and highways, Chief Justice SCP, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, remarked that NHA has abandoned the maintenance of all major arteries of the country except Islamabad-Lahore Motorway (M-2).
These observations came during a hearing of a case about the dilapidated condition of the Quetta-Karachi Highway, which is also known as Balochistan Highway (N-25) or RCD Highway.
The 813-kilometer long RCD Highway passes through Karachi, Bela, Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung, Quetta, and Chaman before entering Afghanistan. The N-25 is the epicenter of deadly accidents in the province which is why it is called the “killer highway.”
The Chief Justice further remarked that although the construction of the Chitral-Gilgit Highway was completed recently, the highway is in such a dreadful state that vehicles could hardly move on it because of the big rocks present on it.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the overall road infrastructure of the country and ordered the NHA’s counsel to submit its response for not rebuilding Balochistan Highway in the next hearing of the case.