Highways Department
Sindh Highways Department is responsible for
construction and maintenance of the entire
provincial roads network.
At the time of independence Sindh inherited only
about 1039 KMS of blacktopped roads, mostly 9 ft.
to 12 ft. in width. The only major road at that
time was the National Highway running from Karachi
to Reti, bordering on Punjab having length of 664
kms. The roads then used to be constructed on the
basis of stage construction. Now the provincial
roads are constructed as per design requirement.
The design standard and specifications are
regularly up-dated to provide better quality and
long life roads. Today the total road network in
Sindh including federal roads, though more than
36,500 KMS in length, still seems too lean when
compared with the minimum requirement of 1KM/
sq.km. i.e; 140,900 KMS.
The road asset has now abysmally deteriorated due
to inadequate maintenance and ever-increasing
traffic volume. As per survey conducted by Road
Management Unit in year 2000-01, about 70% of road
network was in poor condition and required
reconstruction / rehabilitation. Taking cognizance
of the situation the province is now allocating
M&R funds at an annual growth of 20% over the
previous year allocations. This is a welcome
change. 70% of M&R funds are utilized on the basis
of prioritized-roads and 30% on the emergency
road-works. Further through development budget
major roads are improved / rehabilitated according
to traffic intensity. Present Government has
increased the budget allocation on M&R, which have
now improved the situation. The deferred
maintenance was about 8-10 billion
FOREIGN
ASSISTED PROJECTS
ADB ASSISTED, ROAD SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
(RSDP)
Government of Pakistan has singed a loan with
Asian Development Bank for Road Sector Development
programme on Ist February 2002 coating $ 150.0
Million. In addition to this $ 15.0 Million will
be provided by OPEC Fund and $ 71.0 Million will
be provided by the Sindh Government (70.30) making
total cost of project $ 236.0 Million equivalent
to Rs.14419.60 Million. Period of utilization is
upto 30-6-2007. Loan has been declared effective
from 15th September 2002.
Objectives
· Reduce
Rural Poverty and increase access for rural
population to markets and social
services.
· Preserve
key road assets by rationalizing road maintenance
processes including creation of Provincial Road
Fund.
·
Improve Important Provincial Highways that
facilitate trade and provide access to income and
employment opportunity.
The ADB Assisted programme consists of two
components
(1)
Investment Component.
ADB Loan#1892-PAK;OPEC Loan # 899(P) & Sindh
Share.
This component will be headed by Chief
Engineer (Foreign Aid) stationed at Hyderabad and
includes following woks. Improvement/Construction
of 164 Km provincial Highways & 1200 Kms Rural
Access Roads.
(2)Reform
Component
ADB Loan # 1893-PAK (SF)
Road
Sector Development Directorate, has been created
to deal with this component. It is headed by a
Director General (BS-20) with four Directors
(BS-19), four Deputy Directors and other lower
staff in the various fields.
a.
Road Planning, design and seat management (Master
Planning).
b. Resource Mobilization and financial management
c. Road safety.
d Community development and environmental
management.
The theme of Reform component will
be
a)
Management & Preservation of Road Assets
b) Governance
& Institutional Development
c) Operational
Efficiency Improvement
d) Technical Efficiency
Improvement
e) Road
Safety
f) Private Sector Participation
g) Poverty
Reduction and Community Development
ROAD MANAGEMENT UNIT (RMU)
RMU
was established in C&W Department. Government of
Sindh as a part of Nordic Development Fund in
1998. Presently RMU is working under the guidance
of Director General, Road Sector Development
Directorate.
Vision of RMU is implementation of road
maintenance management system and bringing the
road network of Sindh Province as per
international standards.
Objectives
a)
Adoption of a scientific “Road Maintenance
Management System”.
b)
Preparation of a road database.
c)
Continuous up-gradation of road data.
d)
Prioritization of roads for maintenance on the
basis of minimum pay back
period.
To implement
the Road Maintenance Management System in
Districts, Sub-RUM has been established.
SUB-RMU
Under Sector
Reform Component of ADB – RSDP, Sub-RMU in all the
districts in supervision of EDO (W&S) has been
established for management and collection of Road
Data. The training of the Sub-RMU staff has also
been conducted by the RMU to trained them to work
independently and provide require data
/information to RMU. The facilities in this regard
will also be provided by the RSDD under reforms
programme.
JAPANESE ASSISTED,
JBIC-RRCP (PHASE-II)
Donor Agency (JBIC)
and Government of Pakistan have recently agreed
for construction of Phase-II of the Project. For
implementation of the Project, a Project Director
(BPS-20) at Hyderabad has already been posted.
(1)
Length of Rural Road
452 Kms.
(2)
Cost
Rs.3736.89 Million
(a) Loan (JBIC)
Rs.3489.88 Million
(b) Share (Sindh
Govt.) Rs.247.01 Million
(3)
Status Approved by ECNEC). A.A. issued
by W&S Department on
22nd
June, 2006, the Work will be commenced
after
clearance / disbursement of loan by the Donor
Agency (JBIC).
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