The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday raised concerns over financial irregularities at the National Highway Authority, revealing unpaid toll tax dues of Rs26.4 billion and unrecovered penalties of nearly Rs16 billion from overloaded trucks, resulting in significant losses to the national exchequer.
The meeting, chaired by Moeen Amir Pirzada, reviewed audit objections related to the Ministry of Communications for the financial year 2023–24. The committee examined 15 audit paras concerning toll collection, axle load enforcement and recovery mechanisms.
Audit officials told the PAC that Rs26.4 billion in toll revenues remained outstanding against the NHA. Responding to the observation, NHA officials said the matter had been taken up with the National Logistics Cell, the Frontier Works Organisation and private contractors, adding that some amounts were being adjusted against allocations under the Public Sector Development Programme.
Committee members questioned the absence of NLC and FWO representatives from the meeting and raised concerns over accountability. Members also expressed alarm that firms with unpaid dues continued to receive new contracts.
On toll collections, the PAC directed private contractors to clear outstanding dues within 60 days, while government-owned entities were given time until June. The chair warned that legal action would follow if recoveries were not completed within the stipulated period.
The committee also took up audit objections related to losses from overloaded vehicles. Audit officials said penalties worth about Rs17 billion were imposed on roughly 18,000 overloaded trucks, but only around Rs1 billion had been recovered, leaving close to Rs16 billion unrecovered. Auditors maintained that the data was based on official NHA records from toll plazas.
The Secretary of Communications disputed the audit figures, stating they were based on assumptions and related to a period before axle load control systems became fully operational. He said the NHA now operates 236 axle load checking systems and that monitoring covers about 90% of national highways and motorways.
Representatives from the Auditor General of Pakistan rejected the claim, saying the data originated from the department itself. The PAC directed the ministry and audit officials to reconcile figures jointly before the next meeting.
The committee was also informed that additional toll amounts remained recoverable from various entities, including Rs1.1 billion from the Federal Board of Revenue. Members expressed concern over the rising volume of unrecovered toll revenues and questioned why advance recovery clauses in contracts had not been enforced.
The PAC directed that senior officials from NLC and FWO be summoned to the next meeting for a detailed briefing on recoveries and enforcement.
