Islamabad - The Senate Standing Committee on Communications on Tuesday expressed its annoyance over the absence of chief secretary KP and Balochistan in its meeting.

The meeting was held at the parliament house under the chairmanship of Senator Daud Khan Achakzai Advocate. The meeting discussed CPEC and allied issues. The committee chairman expressed annoyance over the absence of chief secretary KP and Balochistan from the meeting and decided to raise the issue in the senate privilege committee.

He was of the view that the chief secretaries have breached the privilege of the house committee by not attending the meeting.

He observed that the chief secretaries were continuously absent from the committee meetings and they not even intimated to the body about their other engagements, if any.

Both the chief secretaries are members of the committee constituted to acquire land for six-lane motorway in KPK and Balochistan.

The chairman committee told the meeting that 55 billion rupees allocated for land acquisition is yet to be handed over to the departments concerned.

He said the committee has not so far met formally which, he added, reflects government’s seriousness on the issue.

He made it clear that single roads and old projects are not part of the CPEC. He said no project is under construction on western route of the CPEC that is why the chief secretaries do not participate in the meetings.

The committee was apprised about bye-pass of Hub city in Balochistan and Chairman NHA, Shahid Ashraf Tarar said that work on ‘Balochistan Gateway’ would start soon. He said that China was willing to fund Balochistan Phase-II projects.

The committee decided that Senator Liaqat Tarakai would personally visit and meet NHA officials to monitor progress on the projects. The committee was further apprised that FWO had to construct three bridges and two toll plazas on Quetta-Chaman road, but some payment issue was creating misunderstanding which, the committee was told, would be resolved amicably through negotiations. The committee was told that two bye-pass would be constructed on Dukki-Harnai road.