Over the long delay in the completion of Lyari Expressway and massive cost escalation from Rs 4.89 billion to Rs 9.94 billion, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expressed serious anger and disappointment.
The committee meeting, held at Islamabad under the chairmanship of Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, reviewed and discussed the audit paras of Ministry of Communications and Postal Services.
While briefing the PAC members, audit officials said that Lyari Expressway Project was started in 2004 with an estimated cost of Rs 4.89 billion, but the project completion was delayed and owing to this reason or that its cost has now reached Rs 9.94 billion.
The committee members said that unnecessary delays in various projects are causing hundreds of billions of rupees losses to the national kitty, while departments concerned are not fulfilling their responsibilities.
The audit department said that senior officials of National Highway Authority (NHA) implemented the project without the approval of Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) and violated set rules and regulations.
The project’s package-II could not be completed by the deadline of March this year and its completion date has now been revised to September next year. Similarly, its package-III could not be completed at its stipulated time of October 2014 and now its completion date has been revised to December 2018.
