Transport, communications provide 2.3m jobs in country

ISLAMABAD (APP) - The transport and communications sector accounts for about 10.0 percent of the country's GDP and 20.9 percent of Gross Fixed Capital Formation in FY 2007-08. It provides over 2.3 million jobs in the country (6% of all employment) and receives 12 to 15 percent of funds from the annual Federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).

Apart from being a significantly large source of budgetary expenditure, the transportation sector imposes huge demand on Pakistan's energy supply, absorbing approximately 35% of total energy annually.

 This was stated in the Economic Survey for the year 2007-08 launched by Federal Finance Minister Sayed Naveed Qamar here on Tuesday.  A well performing transport and communication structure is vital for a country's development. Investment in a country's infrastructure directly affects economic growth as producers find the best markets for their goods, reducing transportation time and cost and generating employment opportunities.

The survey indicates that Pakistan, with 161 million people, has a reasonably developed transport infrastructure. The country generates a total domestic transport load of around 239 billion passenger kilometers and 153 billion tonn kilometers annually.

Road transport is the backbone of Pakistan's transport system. The 9,574 km long National Highway and Motorway network (APP) - which is 3.65 percent of the total road network (APP) - carries 80 percent of Pakistan's total traffic. Recent initiatives and developments in sectors such as shipping, railways and aviation are a welcomed step towards a more comprehensive, efficient and multi-modal transportation system.

The total road network is about 260,000 km of which around 60% is paved. Road density is 0.32 km/km2, which is low and compares unfavorably with other South Asian countries (Bangladesh-1.7 km/km2, Sri Lanka-1.5 km/km2 and India-1.0 km/km2). The Government intends to generate/ mobilize all possible resources to double road density to 0.64 km/km2. Total roads, which were 229,595 KM in 1996-97, increased to 264,853 KM by 2007-08 (APP) - an increase of 15.4 percent.

During the out-going fiscal year, the length of the high typed road network increased by 3.2 percent but the length of the low type road network declined by 2.8 percent.

Port traffic in Pakistan has been growing at 8 percent annually in recent years. Two major ports, Karachi Port and Port Qasim, handle 95 percent of all international trade. Gwadar Port, which was inaugurated in March 2007 and is being operated by Singapore Port Authority, is aiming to develop into a central energy port in the region. In addition, 14 dry ports cater to high value external trade.

During the first six months of FY 2007-08, Karachi Port had handled a total of 20.5 million tonnes of cargo. From July to March of the current financial year, 2007-08, Port Qasim handled 19.76 million tonnes of cargo depicting a growth rate of 10% over the same period last year.

The Economic Survey said that Pakistan Railways (PR) suffered heavy losses and damage to property owing to violence and rioting around the country this year. The network carried 59.74 million passengers and 5.2 million tons of freight during July-March of the outgoing fiscal year. Pakistan Railway's earnings stood at Rs. 13,954 million during the first nine months of FY 2007-08.

PIA carried 5.415 million passengers in 2007 as against 5.732 million in 2006 showing a decrease of 5.5 percent. While having to deal with challenges of rising fuel costs and imposition of a ban placed by the European Union, the Airline suffered losses of Rs. 13.4 billion in the outgoing fiscal year. Along with PIA, there are three private sector airlines operating in Pakistan.

Telecom sector continued to show a stellar growth in last few years. Tele-density in the country has jumped from a mere 6% to 57% (Mar- 08) in just a few years. On average, more than 2 million subscribers are being added on cellular mobile networks per month, which is an exemplary growth in the region.

Pakistan has become one of the fastest growing mobile markets among the emerging telecom markets. This year the sector grew by 80% whereas average growth rate in last four years is more than 100%.

 Today total subscriber base stands at 82.5 million (Mar 2008) whereas it was 34.5 million in 2006. Pakistan's broadband market has been slow despite the fact that services have been available since almost five years.

 Currently there are a total of almost 12,689 Broadband subscribers. According to estimates by the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK), currently there are about 3.5 million internet subscribers all across in Pakistan where total users crossed 17 million marks. Currently around 3,008 cities are connected to internet cities.