National Steering Committee reviews development of road safety plan for highways, motorways

ISLAMABAD, Apr 10 (APP):The third National Steering Committee for the Development of Road Safety Plan for National Highways & Motorways of Pakistan met Tuesday here at the National Highway Authority (NHA) headquarters to deliberate on decisions to improve road safety on all roads’ across the country.
Hosted by the Ministry of Communications, the meeting approved the national consultation process for the ratification and implementation of the National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 and Action Plan 2018-2022, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, as well as the National Road Safety Awareness Campaign.
Federal Secretary Communications Furqan Bahadur Khan in his address said that road safety was a common responsibility. “The new strategy sets the overall long-term direction which can only be met, if the national government, local authorities, development partners, and civil society work together as one, under a coordinated approach.”
NHA Chariman Jawwad Rafique Malik said during the last five years a considerable development and extension had been made to road network of Pakistan. he said increasing road accidents posed immense challenge and in order to overcome the same, coordinated efforts among all the stakeholders were needed. He assured to follow the mechanism to be adopted to control the accidents in the country.
“As Pakistan is investing big to upgrade its transport and road infrastructure, matching efforts are required to catch up with other countries in boosting road safety standards,” said Xiaohong Yang, ADB Country Director for Pakistan. “Improving road safety not only means saving precious lives, but also ensuring sustainable and inclusive economic development through smooth and efficient connectivity between growth centers.”
To deliver more effective road safety management at all levels of government, he said the ministry proposed the activation of the National Road Safety Council to coordinate delivery of the strategy and achieve the sustainable, system-wide changes required to improve road safety in the country.
The proposed strategy, he said, was based on a safe system approach, which included key focus areas of action to deliver safe roads, safe road users, safer vehicles, and improved post-crash care.
Besides NHA chairman, DFID Pakistan Economic Growth Group Head Patricia Seex, as well as senior officials from federal and provincial government agencies, and representatives of transport industry and business leaders, academia, and civil society attended the meeting.