DERA GHAZI KHAN City News

Seventh toll plaza in DG Khan irks people
From Our Correspondent
DERA GHAZI KHAN: The National Highway Authority (NHA) is likely to make operational another toll plaza on Indus Highway at the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border, raising their total to seven in the district.
Although the authority is extending its network to generate revenue, transporters and local community have planned to launch a campaign against the under construction toll plaza. The transporters believe that the network of national highways is very limited in Dera Ghazi Khan where it is already operating six toll plazas, making the addition of another unjustified.
As per the data obtained from the NHA office, the total length of Indus Highway in Dera Ghazi Khan is around 164 kilometres, while the transporters - both goods and commercial - and the owners of personal transport have to pay charges at five toll stations, the highest in the existing networks of NHA and the provincial highway department.
Official sources say in general, the toll plazas are established after around 100 kilometres on the national highways, but the criteria is different in case of Dera Ghazi Khan district.
Recently, a toll plaza on the Indus Highway was relocated from Taunsa Sharif to Sanjar Saidan after political intervention and the pressure exerted by public.
A NHA official told this scribe that the revenue collected would help maintain the national highways which were playing an important role in the economic uplift of the country. He said the number of the toll plazas in the district was high due to its geographical location and traffic flow.
Interestingly, the distance between the new and the existing toll plaza at Khad Buzdar Vehoa is around 13 kilometre which might be the lowest one in the roads network being operated and maintained by NHA.