Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Ishaq Dar said the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for fiscal year 2022-23 includes Rs 118.4 billion for road safety and improvements to the country's road infrastructure. He was speaking at the concluding ceremony of 'International Road Safety Conference for Parliamentarians'. In order to build a secure, up-to-date, and effective transportation infrastructure for the country, the government has included 50 projects in the National Highway Authority portfolio in the PSDP for fiscal year 2023 with a total budget of Rs 118.4 billion, he said.

According to Ishaq Dar, the number of automobiles on the road was anticipated to be 34.2 million up until FY2022, and that number is rising quickly as the middle class expands across the country. According to him, Pakistan's existing road network spans 500,750 km. He said the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway was started in the early 1990s, and later expanded phenomenally throughout the country. It was later included under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, he added.

Dar said that in order to speed up the country's economic growth, the government is once more working quickly to increase the number and calibre of roads in the country. To maintain accident-free traffic flow, it is also aggressively working to effectively enforce road safety legislation, he added.

According to the minister, road safety measures must be implemented with the intention of reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 50% by 2030. These are the goals set out by the United Nations Global Action Plan on Road Safety, he added. He said that road traffic accidents have a tragic impact on families and communities throughout the world in terms of the loss of priceless lives and the financial burden they impose. He stated that it is the government's duty to make the countries' roadways safer for all the people.

Dar expressed his thanks to the International Parliamentarians' Congress for taking the crucial step of hosting Pakistan's first-ever parliamentary conference on road safety. In addition, he expressed his gratitude to the organising committee, the presidents of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Parliamentarians Congress on Road Safety, as well as the deputy secretary of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States, for their efforts in making the event a success.

Ishaq Dar stated that thanks to the persistent work of these organisations, a forum has been established for parliamentarians from all over the world to meet and debate the vital topic of road safety. He also expressed his appreciation to the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan for their support for the two-day conference.

According to the minister, road traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of the loss of valuable lives, as well as significant injuries and the leading cause of death among adolescents globally. In the wider public interest, “we can no longer accept this worldwide threat,” he declared.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk