Hang them at D-Chowk’: senators grill NHA officials on corruption allegations

ISLAMABAD: Senate Sub-Committee on Communications members expressed outrage at National Highway Authority (NHA) officials during a heated session, accusing them of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement in key infrastructure projects.

The sub-committee meeting, chaired by Senator Kamil Ali Agha, was held at the Parliament House. Neither the secretary of communications nor the NHA chairman attended the session.

During the meeting, NHA officials admitted that a report regarding the awarding of the CPEC’s “Carriageway 3” project to a blacklisted company had already been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office.

They also confirmed that the NHA chairman had been replaced over alleged irregularities in the Lyari Expressway reconstruction project.

Senator Saifullah Abro demanded access to all correspondence between the NHA and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding these projects.

The NHA officials said the ADB was monitoring the situation and had suggested issuing a new contract, but no written instructions had been provided.

Senator Abro accused the NHA of misleading the committee, stating that awarding of contracts by the NHA to ineligible companies inflated project costs.

He demanded the dismissal of the NHA’s director of procurement and said the committee might hold a press conference exposing the officials. “These officials should be hung at D-Chowk,” he said.

He also alleged that Deputy Director Abdul Jabbar Sheikh was extorting commissions from contractors, saying the chairman and secretary were in “his pocket”.

Senator Zamir Ghumro warned that the committee would invoke contempt of Parliament against all NHA officials if accountability measures were not taken.

He asked the NHA to decide within a week regarding the Tranche 3 project contract under the National Highway Authority Executive Committee (NAXCC).

Senator Abro expressed regret that the previous NHA chairman had allowed subordinates to damage the institution’s credibility.

He urged the new NHA chairman to take action against the “corrupt mafia” within the authority, highlighting that another national highway reconstruction project had also been awarded to the same blacklisted company responsible for completing the M-5 project.

Ghumro added that all NHA officials would be considered dismissed once the committee’s report was submitted. Abro recommended that, similar to the Pakistan Public Works Department, the NHA should be shut down.

He said that a delegation of committee members would present this recommendation to the prime minister, describing the NHA as a “mafia” that had become incapable of reform.