Striving to increase resources, NHA collected Rs.2 billion by allowing commercial use of ROW

National Highway Authority (NHA) has collected Rs.2 billion by allowing commercial use of its right of way (ROW) during last fiscal year.

The serious efforts of the NHA to increase its revenue could be gauged from the fact that in 2013-14, it collected Rs.470 million from the use of ROW but in 2018, the figure reached Rs.2 billion and it is hoped that in coming few years the figure would increase further, said an official of NHA on Monday.

He said that the NHA has been fulfilling the responsibility of construction and expansion of motorways, national highways, expressways and bridges and it needs heavy funds for their maintenance and repair.

The NHA spends the money collected from the auction of toll plazas on the maintenance and repair of the roads, however this amount is not sufficient to maintenance and repair of vast network of its roads all over the country.

To meet its requirements, the NHA has been striving to increase its resources and revenue being collected from use of its right of way has registered steady increase during past few years, he remarked.

To a question he said that the rates of use of NHA's ROW are assessed keeping in view the traffic flow on the road, presence of factories and other business concerns in the area.

He said by June 2018 NHA had issued a total of 2,953 no objection certificates which included 32 NOCs to housing societies while 42 NOCs were issued to industrial concerns.

(APP)