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Express Tribune
07-02-2025
- Automotive
- Express Tribune
NHA doubles its toll on the pocket
KARACHI: For a supplier regularly using a highway for transporting goods between cities, the toll tax is an operating cost necessary to maintain the regular operations of a business. However, when this toll tax is increased within a matter of days, it can inevitably drive the business into a state of loss. For instance, Muhammad Nawaz, who supplies milk from Hyderabad to Karachi, claimed that he paid Rs220 extra within two days. "Toward the end of January, I was charged Rs860 for my Mazda truck at Toll Plaza Hyderabad however, this month, I had to pay Rs1,080 for the same vehicle on the same route," said Nawaz. Similarly, Khushi Muhammad, a resident of Karachi, revealed that he traveled to Hyderabad frequently on his car. "I used to pay Rs370 as toll tax till the end of December, but now I have to pay Rs470. Within two to three days, the toll tax has been increased by Rs100," lamented Muhammad. In the first week of January, the government and opposition members of the Sindh Assembly had jointly passed a resolution in which they expressed their concerns over the increase in toll tax on highways and motorways managed by the NHA, terming it an injustice to the people of the province who were already battling inflation. After the increase in toll tax, a commuter travelling from Karachi to Hyderabad or Sukkur via the highway would have to pay at least Rs2500 per vehicle in toll tax. Simultaneously, other members complained about the poor, accident-prone condition of highways managed by the NHA and the delays in the construction of the Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway. On the other hand, the National Highway Authority (NHA) has claimed that it spends more money on the repair and maintenance of highways and motorways in the province than it earns through the collection of toll tax. Reportedly, NHA meets all its expenses from its own resources and the revenue generated from toll tax is the organization's largest source of income. In light of this, NHA officials have recently hoped to multiply this revenue by increasing the toll tax rates. In total, 29 toll plazas are already operational across Sindh. NHA's Director of Public Relations Mazhar Hussain told The Express Tribune that the NHA collected a total of Rs6.85 billion in toll tax revenue from Sindh for the financial year 2023-24, while it spent Rs8.9 billion on road maintenance and repair during the same period. "The NHA does not receive funds from the government for the maintenance and repair of roads due to which it depends largely on its own resources. Therefore, in order to maintain the road network spanning 13,600 kilometers across the country, it had to increase the toll tax and number of toll plazas," revealed Hussain, who further disclosed that the NHA hoped to increase its overall revenue from Rs60 billion to Rs110 billion in the current financial year. "The NHA has recently established a new toll plaza near Umerkot in Mirpurkhas district. Under the policy, a toll plaza can be built at a distance of 35 to 60 kilometers on highways. The repair of the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway will start in February," affirmed the NHA spokesperson. Provincial Minister for Planning and Development Syed Nasir Hussain Shah assured that the Sindh government will place the concerns of the members of the Sindh Assembly before the federal government and recommend that they be resolved immediately. "Not only the members of the assembly but also the common people are worried about the poor condition of the Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway, which needs to be improved. The Sindh government is also concerned about the delay in the construction of the Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway," claimed Shah.
Express Tribune
06-02-2025
- Express Tribune
Burial of 13 migrants killed in Morocco boat sinking begins
Listen to article A Pakistani man who drowned along with 12 fellow nationals when a boat carrying migrants capsized off northwest Africa was buried in his hometown on Thursday. Every year, thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums to human traffickers for risky and illegal journeys to Europe in search of work and better opportunities to support their families. Sadly, Pakistanis are often among those who drown in overcrowded boats on the Mediterranean Sea, the world's deadliest migrant route. This week, the foreign ministry confirmed that 13 of its citizens were among the victims of a boat tragedy that occurred in the Atlantic Ocean. The boat, which had around 80 passengers aboard, left Mauritania heading for Spain's Canary Islands. However, it capsized near the Western Sahara port of Dakhla on January 16. On Thursday, Arslan Khan, one of four bodies repatriated from the shipwreck, was laid to rest in the village of Mirza Virkan in eastern Punjab. His brother, Adnan Khan, shared the heartbreak, saying, 'We sent Arslan to build a better future, and the trafficker assured us he would send him legally. We sold our property and animals for his future, but the trafficker betrayed us—he sent back our brother's dead body.' According to sources at the Pakistani Embassy in Morocco, initial reports on January 15 suggested that 44 Pakistanis had died in the boat accident. However, local authorities recovered only 13 bodies from the scene. The Pakistani embassy in Morocco worked with local officials to facilitate the identification process. Fingerprint data and photographs were shared with NADRA, which verified the identities of the victims. Once the confirmation was completed, official lists were compiled and released. The identified victims include: Sufyan Ali (son of Javed Iqbal) – Passport No. VF1812352 Sajjad Ali (son of Muhammad Nawaz) – Passport No. XX1836111 Rais Afzal (son of Muhammad Afzal) – Passport No. MJ1516091 Qasnain Haider (son of Muhammad Banaras) – Passport No. AA6421773 Muhammad Waqas (son of Sanaullah) – Passport No. DJ6315471 Muhammad Akram (son of Ghulam Rasool) – Passport No. DN0151754 Muhammad Arsalan Khan (son of Ramzan Khan) – Passport No. LM4153261 Hamid Shabbir (son of Ghulam Shabbir) – Passport No. CZ5133683 Qaiser Iqbal (son of Muhammad Iqbal) – Passport No. GR1331413 Danish Rehman (son of Muhammad Nawaz) – Passport No. SE9154371 Muhammad Sajawal (son of Rahim Deen) – Passport No. AY5593661 Shehzad Ahmed (son of Wilayat Hussain) – Passport No. GN1162802 Ehtesham (son of Tariq Mehmood) – Passport No. CE1170122 Pakistan has one of the highest rates of emigration in the world, with many migrants coming from Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where communities have long-standing ties to Europe. According to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration, an estimated 40,000 Pakistanis attempt illegal migration each year. In June 2023, the Mediterranean saw one of its deadliest shipwrecks, when an overloaded trawler carrying more than 750 people, including up to 350 Pakistanis, sank. Only 82 bodies were recovered.
