ISLAMABAD, March 13: The Senate Standing Committee on Communications was informed on Thursday that design flaws had led to the collapse of a portion of Karachi’s Northern Bypass, known locally as the Shershah Bridge.

The information was provided to the committee by Communications secretary Sajid Hussain Chattha.

The committee demanded that findings of the Prime Minister’s Inspection Commission (PMIC) which conducted an inquiry into the collapse of the bridge be made public as soon as possible. The accident occurred last year, killing six people.

The bypass, built at a cost of nearly Rs3.5 billion, had been inaugurated by President Pervez Musharraf about two months before its collapse.

Briefing the committee on the colossal loss caused by a severe cyclone which battered the Mekran coast in June last year, the secretary said the Ormara–Pasni section of the Mekran coastal highway had been severely damaged.

He said that floods triggered by the cyclone washed away portions of the coastal highway at several places.

He said that no individual or agency could be blamed for the loss. He assured the committee that precautionary measures taken by the institutions concerned would help avert such losses in future.

The committee, which met under the chairmanship of Senator Kamil Ali Agha, observed that lack of proper hydrological data appeared to be the main reason for the colossal loss caused by the flash floods, and stressed the need for collecting relevant figures.

The committee expressed dissatisfaction over the quality of repair works carried out on the Makran coastal highway and directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to carry out a detailed study of the damage caused to the highway so that a comprehensive plan could be undertaken to remove some structural flaws to avoid future losses.

The committee directed that local people should be given preference in recruitment in Balochistan to remove the sense of deprivation among the people of the province.

Senator Liaquat Ali Bungalzai expressed reservations over the quality of repair works of the coastal highway. He also disagreed with communications secretary’s claim that the natural calamity was responsible for the loss, and said that poor quality of work had led to the massive loss.

He said the fact that the coastal highway was swept away by a flash flood proved that the quality of material and work was not up to the mark.

He sought action against the contractor who had stopped work on Quetta-Qalat and Quetta-Chaman road projects, causing many accidents in the area.

The meeting was also attended by Senators Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal, Naeem Hussain Chattha, Abdul Ghaffar Qureshi, Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai and Dr Muhammad Ismail Buledi.