_____________________________________NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY (NHA)

NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Roads Infrastructure plays an important role in the development of any country.

Established in 1991, National Highway Authority (NHA) is responsible for
developing, operating and maintaining the National Highway and Motorway
networks throughout Pakistan. To enhance Pakistan’s competitiveness in the
global market, to sustain the high economic growth achieved in recent years and to
make the country a hub of regional trade, NHA currently is developing a well
integrated network of Highways and Motorways. While planning the development
of roads, it also considers the well-being of individuals and businesses throughout
the country by improving reliability, quality and access of the highway network. I
had listened a lot about NHA from my friends who were already working there. In
fact, that was one of the reasons why I chose NHA for internship. Moreover, it
was easy for me to get internship over at NHA because of strong references over
there.

I started my internship with NHA from the first day of July 2009 till the last day of
August 2009. The environment there was quite new for me. Though it was not my
first exposure to the practical world as I had already done internship at Askari
Bank for 6 weeks yet the atmosphere over there was quite different from that of
private firms. My internship schedule was divided into 8 weeks, in which initial
weeks were for orientation to all of the departments and rest were spent at the
three main departments of the Finance Wing. During my whole internship, I tried
my best to put my all of the best energies and efforts to get fruitful results for the
two months time which I spent over there. And I think I was successful in
achieving my goals and objectives.
THANKS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE #
Copy of Internship Letter………………………………………………I
Executive Summary……………………………………………………II
1. Introduction to National Highway Authority (NHA)……………05

NHA Background ………………………………………………05

Objectives………………………………………………………06
Organizational Structure………………………………………..06
Services of NHA……………………………………………......08
1.4.1. Services of Finance Wing……………………...................08
1.4.2. Services of Budget & Accounts Department …………….09
1.4.3. Services of Finance Department………………………….10
2. Learning & Experience…………………………………………..11
2.1. Internship Duration & Rationale for Selection…………….......11
2.2. Details of Training (Department wise)…………………….......11
2.2.1. Orientation at Budget Section ……………………………13
2.2.2. Orientation at Revenue Section…………………………..14
2.2.3. Orientation at Establishment Section…………………….15
2.2.4. Orientation & Working at GOP………………………….16
2.2.5. Orientation & Working at AP…………………………….18
2.2.6. Orientation at Computer Section………………………....20
2.2.7. Orientation & Working at Book-Keeping Section…….....20
2.2.8. Orientation at DDO Section……………………………...22
2.2.9. Orientation at CP Fund Section…………………………..22
2.3. SWOT Analysis of NHA………………………………………24
2.4. Recommendations……………………………………………..27

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Page #
Conclusion………………………………………………………….....28
References…………………………………………………………….29
Appendix………………………………………………………………30
Acknowledgements………………………………………………......32
Personal Resume…………………………………………………......33

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1. INTRODUCTION TO NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY

(NHA)

National Highway Authority (NHA) is responsible for developing, operating and

maintaining the National Highway and Motorway networks throughout Pakistan. To
enhance Pakistan’s competitiveness in the global market, to sustain the high economic
growth achieved in recent years and to make the country a hub of regional trade, NHA
currently is developing a well integrated network of Highways and Motorways. While
planning the development of roads, it also considers the well-being of individuals and
businesses throughout the country by improving reliability, quality and access of the
highway network.

1.1. NHA BACKGROUND

The National Highway Authority (NHA) was established in 1991, through an Act of the
Parliament, for planning, development, operation, repair and maintenance of National
Highways and Strategic Roads specially entrusted to NHA by the Federal Government or
by a Provincial Government or other authority concerned. NHA network is comprised of
11485 Kms which is only 4.4% of Pakistan’s total road network but carries 80% of the
country’s overall commercial traffic and thus is the backbone of the economic stability
and progress of Pakistan. The passenger traffic load in Pakistan is currently shared by
roads (90%), rail (8%) and air (2%). Dependence on road for freight traffic is 95%. The
country has about 7 million vehicles on road growing at 8% annually – projected to
increase to over 40 million by 2030. Transport sector currently accounts for 11% of the
GDP and over 16% of fixed investment. In short, the road sector has become the
backbone of Pakistan’s Transport sector and NHA plays a major role in the development
of road sector.

National Highway Authority (NHA) with the intent of successful execution of its large
contracts requires that works are awarded only to firms that are suitably experienced in
the road/bridge works, that are financially and managerially sound, and that can provide

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all the equipment required in a timely manner. For this purpose, NHA carries out the
annual assessment of the capacity of firms prior to being invited to participate in open
bidding for NHA Projects.

1.2. OBJECTIVES OF NHA:

Objectives of NHA can simply be said to construct and maintain the operations of
highways and motorways of Pakistan. These all tasks require a complete planning and
organizing tactics behind to implement, develop and operate the planned projects.
Moreover, once constructed, the repairing and maintaining of the completed projects is
also amongst the objectives of NHA. In short, we can say that NHA is committed for
improving the communication and transportation infrastructure of Pakistan to promote
trade and commerce in the country.

1.3. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

Head office of National Highway Authority is located in Islamabad, headed by a

Chairman. It is functionally divided into Planning, Administration, Finance, Operations
Wings headed by a Member each. As shown below:

CHAIRMAN

ADMINIST-
PLANNING FINANCE OPERATION
ATION
WING WING WING
WING

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All Members are functional heads of their respective wings. They are assisted by General
Managers who are operational heads of wings. The head office controls the operation of
the Authority throughout the country. Six Regional offices, one in each provincial capital
and one in Multan known as Punjab (South) and one at Abbotabad known as Northern
Areas are headed by Regional General Mangers. Many Project offices dealing with
individual major projects as are declared by the Chairman as “Self Accounting Projects”
are headed by Regional General Managers. The structure of Finance Wing is as follows:

Member Finance

GM (B&A) GM (Finance)

Director Director Director Director

Director Director (Accounts) Director
(Accounts-1) (Accounts-II) (Accounts-III) (Rev. Rec) Punjab- Construction (Finance)

DD DD DD DD DD DD DD
(Accounts) DD DD DD
(Accounts) (Accounts (Accounts) (Accounts) (Accounts DD (Accounts) DD
Regional Maint. (RAMD) (Accounts) (Accounts) (Finance)
(AP) (Est. & (Budget) (GOP) -III) Punj. Cons. (Finance)
Offices (06) M-1 NHIP
Vacant Coord) Vacant Vacant Vacant Vacant
01 vacant

AD
AD AD
AD AD (Accounts AD AD AD AD AD AD
(Accounts) AD (Accounts) AD
DDO (Accounts) (Accounts) -III) (Accounts) (Accounts) (Accounts) (BK & C) (Accounts) (Finance) AD (CPF)
Est. (Budget) Regional (RAMD.)
AP GOP Vacant Punj. Cont. M-1 NHIP (M-2)
Vacant Offices(06)

Supdt. Supdt.
Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt. Supdt.

IT Analyst (04)
(Under Director(Accounts) Accounting Specialist

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1.4. SERVICES OF NHA:

In the light of above stated objectives of the authority, services of NHA can be divided
into two parts:

• Construction Works
Construction works comprise of all new constructions whether of entirely new
works or of additions and alterations to existing works except as hereinafter
provided.

• Maintenance Works
Maintenance includes operations undertaken to maintain in proper condition the
completed projects of NHA.

But these basic services are delivered after complete planning at different wings of NHA.
According to my qualification i.e. MBA, I was placed in the Finance Wing of NHA. The
Finance Wing is headed by the Member Finance. In terms of the provisions of NHA Act
1991 (as amended in 2001), the Member (Finance) is also a Member of the NHA
Executive Board. Finance Wing deals with all finance, budget, revenue and accounts
related matters of NHA.

1.4.1. SERVICES OF THE FINANCE WING

Let’s have a look at the core services being offered by the Finance Wing:
• Principal policy maker of all financial matters for efficient management of
Authority’s finances and financial system
• Preparation and supervision of Authority’s budget in consultation with other
Wings
• Budgetary controls and economic utilization of Authority’s funds
• Liaison with Ministry of Communication, Ministry of Finance, Planning Division
and Economic Affairs Division for all matters concerning NHA’s Finances,
Loans, Grants and Release of Funds.

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• Co-ordination with donor agencies.

• Evaluation and processing of all bids, proposals and expression of interest for
generation of funds.
• Management of Authority’s funds and non-funds accounts
• Evaluation of proposals for enlistment / pre-qualifications of banks and insurance
companies on the approved panel of Authority.
• Pre-audit / scrutiny of administratively approved cases in respect of PSDP,
maintenance and establishment claims of all nature before disbursement as well as
their bookkeeping and accounting
• Accounting of NHA’s own receipts
• Up-gradation of computerized accounting system with technological advancement
• Audit of NHA’s accounts from Auditor General of Pakistan and commercial
auditors
• Preparation of final accounts the Authority and submission of yearly financial
statements and audit reports to NHA executive board and NHA council for
approval.

1.4.2. SERVICES OF BUDGET AND ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT

• Administration & Training of Finance Staff

• Preparation of all kind of Budgets
• Payment & Accounting of all expenses
• Payroll Processing/Establishment Accounting
• Co-ordination of Regional Accounts Offices & Self Accounting Units
• Audit Paras & Public Accounts Committee
• Co-ordination and Liaison with Ministries
• Maintenance of Books of Accounts & Audit of Financial Statements

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1.4.3. SERVICES OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT

• Management of contributory provident fund account.

• Evaluation and interpretation of the clauses of contracts and agreements
having commercial and financial implications.
• Dealing with financial aspects of BOT/PPP proposals, and private sector
financing proposals.
• Credibility evaluation of banks & insurance companies, insurance policies
bonds and guarantees.
• Evaluation of bids.
• Negotiating loans and funding proposals.
• Dealing with tax matters.
• Conduct review of NHA’s financial operations.
• Preparation of entity budget.
• Managing NHA fund and non fund accounts.
• Book keeping and preparation of accounts
• Maintenance of fixed assets records.
• Audit coordination.

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2. LEARNING & EXPERIENCE:

2.1. Internship Duration and Rationale for Selection:

My internship at NHA was for 2 months (July-August 2008) because that was summer-
off from the Institution and was the best time to utilize it in a useful way. As far as the
question is concerned, why I chose NHA, the reasons are simple and logical. Like:
• I had a strong reference over there.
• I wanted to enjoy the working experience at a public sector organization because
prior to that I had done my first internship at Askari Bank (a private firm).
• NHA offers free pick & drop service for its employees.
• Along with my co-internee friend, I had some more friends there who were
already providing their services to NHA.
• At that time, I was of the opinion to choose Finance as my majors (which was
changed later on) and NHA was one of the best options to do internship.

2.2. Details of Training (Department wise)

When I applied for the internship at NHA, a schedule was given to me by my mentor Mr.
Ahmed Hassan. This schedule was as follows:

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Schedule of Internship Program

SECTION FROM TO

Budget 01st July, 2008 05h July, 2008

Revenue 07th July, 2008 12th July, 2008

Establishment 14th July, 2008 19th July, 2008

GOP 21st July, 2008 26th July, 2008

Aided Projects 28th July, 2008 02nd August, 2008

Computer Section 04th August, 2008 09th August, 2008

Book-Keeping & Consolidation 11th August, 2008 16th August, 2008

DDO 18th August, 2008 23rd August, 2008

CP Fund 25th August, 2008 30th August, 2008

This schedule was circulated amongst all of the 8 departments, by addressing to the ADs
of the departments. A copy of this circular is attached at end of the report as annexure.

ORIENTATION:

In order to give me an introduction and overview of the organization, an orientation

session was described in the schedule. Due to the policies of the organization, only
orientation was designed for six departments of the Finance Wing i.e., Budget Section,
Revenue Section, Establishment, Computer Section, DDO Section and CP Fund Section.
However, my main internship work was scheduled at Government of Pakistan (GOP)
Section, Aided Projects (AP) Section and the Book-Keeping & Consolidation Section.
The explanation about this orientation and internship work is explained as under:

2.2.1. ORIENTATION AT BUDGET SECTION:

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During the orientation session at the Budget Section, I was told that the section is
responsible for preparing the budgets for the authority. This section estimates the
revenues and expenses for the financial year and makes budgets for the coming period.
These budgets can be categorized as development and non-development budgets. The
explanations of these budgets are as follows:

a. Development Budget:
Development Budget (also known as Capital Budget) is made out of the funds granted
(on annual basis) by the Federal Government for development of roads. The amount for
this budget is determined on the basis of estimates made by Planning and Operations
Wings. After this, the data is compiled and sent to Chairman for the approval. If
approved, the budget estimates are sent to Ministry of Communication where Financial
Adviser examines the estimates. Before the budgets are finalized, a meeting is held which
is attended by the representatives of Planning & Development Division, Finance Division
and Economic Affairs Division. The estimates recommended by this committee are
discussed in APCC (Annual Plan Coordination Committee) meeting which is chaired by
the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Finally, these estimates are submitted in the Parliament
for approval.

b. Non-Development Budget:
Non-Development Budget can be further categorized into these two subcategories:
1. Maintenance Budget
2. Establishment Budget

Maintenance Budget:
This is the budget which is required for the maintenance of existing completed
highways and motorways, constructed by NHA. Maintenance Directorate of NHA
is requested to prepare Budget estimates and submit it to NHA budget section of
Finance Wing. Budget section compiles the estimates and submits the same to
Ministry of Communication (MOC). After due consideration in MOC, the same is
forwarded to Ministry of Finance (MOF) for approval. Finance Division allocates

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the funds for maintenance grant and MOC releases these funds to NHA on
quarterly basis.

Establishment Budget:
Administration Wing of NHA is requested to provide details of 252 core posts of
NHA upon the request of Budget Section. Budget section prepares and compiles
the budget estimates for the posts and submits it to MOC and the same is
forwarded to MOF for approval. Finance Division allocates the funds for the
establishment charges under MOC 252 core posts. Again MOC releases these
funds to NHA on quarterly basis.

2.2.2. ORIENTATION AT REVENUE SECTION:

The second week of my internship was scheduled for the orientation to Revenue Section
of Finance Wing. I was told that the main function of revenue section is to collect
revenues for NHA. In addition, it also makes payments for repair & maintenance of roads
as per maintenance plan devised by Road Assets Management Directorate (RAMD). So,
this Revenue Section can be categorized into two sub-sections i.e., Receipts & Payments.

Receipts Section:
As the name specifies, this section is responsible to collect revenues for NHA. The
main sources of revenue generation are toll receipts, rent from hotels, rent from
petrol/CNG stations, hoardings and advertisements, sale proceeds of NHA assets,
tender documents fees, taxes and police fines etc. These revenues are collected
through contractors like NLC, FWO etc. These contractors receive revenues from the
service users and deposit it into the account of NHA by the name of ‘Road
Maintenance Account (RMA)’. These deposits can be made on daily, weekly,
monthly or quarterly basis (as per the contract’s requirement).

Payment Section:
Payment Section makes all payments regarding repairing and maintenance of the
roads. The payments are made for routine maintenance, periodic maintenance,

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emergency maintenance and geometric maintenance. The section makes

arrangements for Mobilization Advance, Secured Advance, Interim Payments
Certificate (IPC) and final payment to contractors and consultants as per contract
requirements. The Section is also responsible for transferring funds to Regional
Offices on their demand, according to their shares, for maintenance of roads.

2.2.3. ORIENTATION AT ESTABLISHMENT SECTION:

The next scheduled department for my orientation was the Establishment Section. This
section deals with payments of salaries, allowances and other personal benefits of NHA
employees. Expenditures of establishment section are met through NHA Establishment
Grant and 1% Special Allocation.

NHA Establishment Grant:

NHA Establishment Grant is allocated for the salary payments and allowances of
permanent employees of NHA. This grant comes from the Ministry of
Communication. These permanent employees are 252 in number who are getting
their salaries out of this grant.

1% Special Allocation:
1% Special Allocation is the source of making salary and allowances payment of
those employees who are working for NHA on contract basis. These employees
are hired according to the projects initiated by NHA. It is called 1% because in
actual it is the one percent of all the funds allocated to NHA from MOC.

2.2.4. ORIENTATION & WORKING AT GOP SECTION:

Fourth week of my internship was scheduled for GOP section. ‘GOP’ stands for
‘Government of Pakistan’ Section. At this section, I was not only supposed to be oriented

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by also to do some practical work. At the very first day of the fourth week, the orientation
session was held, in which I was briefed by Mr. Tareen Baloch (AD) about the functions
and operations of the GOP section.

This section deals with all accounts and finance related matters of those projects which
are directly or indirectly funded by the Government of Pakistan. This is one of the most
important sections of NHA as more than 50% of NHA projects are financed by
Government of Pakistan. So, one can imagine the level of work and commitment needed
in this section. Whenever a project is started, total project cost is estimated and planned
by the planning wing. These projects become part of Annual Development Program and
Federal Government allocates funds in annual budget. For completion of these projects,
tenders are called from pre-qualified contractors and the project goes to the contractor
who comes up with the lowest bid.

GOP section is responsible to make payments to contractors and consultants as:

• Mobilization Advance,
• Secured Advance,
• Interim Payment Certificate and
• Final Payment as per contract’s terms and conditions
These advances are not given to the contractors until and unless they give securities in the
form of Bank Guarantees to NHA. All payment bills are singed by Project Consultant and
Project Resident Engineer/ Project Director and are send to General Manager concerned,
who, after certification, sends those bills to General Manager (Operations). The General
Manager (Operations) gets approval of Member Operations and forwards the bill to
Finance Wing.

From the second day of my schedule at GOP Section, I got started to work. The tasks I
performed in GOP section included establishment work, imprest, consultancy works and
contractors related works.

• Establishment Work:

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Establishment work at GOP Section is related with almost all other accounts sections
of NHA. It covers all the expenses related to employees’ salaries, allowances and
personal benefits including medical expenses, house hiring, conveyance charges,
utility charges etc. In this regard, I learnt how to make vouchers for medical
expenses, house hiring, overtime and utility expenses etc. These vouchers were made
in the General Ledger (GL) Software by entering the employee’s name, employee
number, amount, debit/credit distinction and explanation for the expense. Mr. Shahid
(Trainee) helped me a lot in using and entering the data into this software.

• Imprest:
By imprest we mean that amount which is sent to regional offices of NHA from the
Head Office Islamabad. This is called imprest because this amount is sent to meet the
day-to-day expenses of the regional offices. Expenditures are made at the regional
offices and expenditure statements sent to the head office, which are checked and
verified at head office. I learnt how to verify those expenses with the reference
documents which were sent as evidence for the expenses incurred. These reference
documents can be used mobile cards, paid-bills etc. After verification, the next step
was to enter those expenses in their respective accounts on imprest portion GL
Software.

• Consultancy Work:
NHA hires consultants to supervise the work of the contractors. Consultants submit
their invoices on monthly basis. The consultants’ invoice must contain the following:
- Request Letter
- Staff attendance sheet
- Monthly invoice with proposed contractual rates
- Affidavit regarding staff salary payments
- Certificate ensuring validation of the Securities
- Documents regarding Design Cell (if required)
In the regard of Consultancy Work, I was supposed to check the invoices
arithmetically and to make sure that all the requirements have been fulfilled by the

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consultant. I also used to prepare the vouchers for payment to the consultant. This
was one of the toughest tasks assigned to me, so I consulted Mr. Tareen again and
again to avoid any mistakes and error in it. He always welcomed me and answered
my queries very politely.

• Contractors’ Work:
After consultancy, I moved to the contractors’ works. In fact, I had nothing to do in
this regard but just to understand the whole process that how tenders are given to the
contractors, how bidding is conducted and how the contractor with the lowest bid is
assigned the tender.

2.2.5. ORIENTATION & WORKING AT AP SECTION:

My fifth scheduled week of internship at NHA was for AP Section. ‘AP’ stands for
‘Aided Projects’. As the name denotes, this section deals with those projects which are
funded by foreign donor agencies. Major donor agencies include World Bank, UNDP,
Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation etc. Financing
by these agencies can either be direct or indirect:

Direct Financing:
In direct financing because NHA directly negotiates with foreign donor agencies
and signs agreement for loans. There is no third party involved in this type of
financing.

Indirect Financing:
The Government of Pakistan obtains loans from donor agencies and gives it to
NHA for utilization. All terms & conditions relevant to withdrawal, utilization
and repayment of these loans are set at the time of agreement. Handbooks are
provided for detailed procedures by the agencies.

I worked in Aided Projects Section for 6 days. The first day was scheduled for orientation
session, in which I was told about the functions and operations of the AP Section. I found

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the working in AP Section and GOP Section almost the same. The vital difference was
that in GOP the projects were funded by the Government whereas in AP, all projects are
aided projects. So, the work in these two sections was almost the same. Consultants’
invoices, contractors’ bills, etc are processed in the same way as they were processed in
the GOP Section. This section also deals with the establishment of the employees
working on the projects dealt in this section. Foreign currency is also involved in the
projects dealt in Accounts Section AP i.e. the payment is made in both local and foreign
currencies. What I did in the AP Section were arithmetic verification of measurement
books and maintenance of cash books:

• Arithmetic Verification Of Measurement Books:

In AP Section, the main task assigned to me was the arithmetic verification of
quantities and rates in the measurement books which were already recorded by an
engineer of the project. In those books he provided the original cost of the contract,
the measurement date, mobilization advance and secured advances paid and
recovered validity of the bank guarantees etc. I was supposed to arithmetically check
the rates and quantities recorded in those measurement books. After satisfied
verification, tax was charged and retention money was mentioned along with the
details. After that the vouchers were prepared for the payments of the bill.

• Maintenance of Cash Books:

In the last days of my fifth week at AP Section, I learnt to maintain the cash books of
a few projects. I have to record the voucher details in the cash books, in a specific
format. This activity was done at the end of each month and as it was the end of July,
so I encountered it in the AP Section. Other than writing the cash books, I used to
reconcile them with the electronic cash books generated by GL Accounting system.
2.2.6. ORIENTATION AT COMPUTER SECTION:

This was my sixth week at NHA and after the AP Section my next destination was
Computer Section of Finance Wing. Mr. Jamil (IT-Analyst) gave me a brief overview of
the functions of this section. He explained that Computer Section is responsible for the

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development and operations of the computerized accounting software being run in the
Finance Wing. This is the smallest section of the Finance Wing, consisting of only 3
employees. They all are well-educated and have deep knowledge about the latest
technologies and innovations regarding IT. General Ledger (GL) System is the result of
in-house development by NHA employees of Computer Section. They always welcome
the complaints and suggestions from the other sections for the improvement GL System
and changes after proper approval from the competent authority. All departments of the
NHA Head Quarters are interconnected by a centralized Local Area Network (LAN)
System. Every employee who is the user of the system has been given a Login ID and
Password that is a precautionary measure to safeguard against un-authorized access to the
system. User’s authorization to different tasks of the system is defined and proper checks
are applied to ensure that right authority is accessed by the right person.

2.2.7. ORIENTATION & WORKING AT BOOK-KEEPING &

CONSOLIDATION SECTION:

After Computer Section, my schedule directed me to the next section which was Book-
Keeping & Consolidation Section. This section is also one of the main sections of the
Finance Wing and contains information regarding each and every transaction being done
in the entire organization. This section is responsible for preparing the final accounts of
NHA after receiving the Trial Balances from all other sections of the Finance Wing and
all Regional Offices. Here accounts are consolidated on monthly basis and each month
the consolidated financial statements (Income & Expenditure Statement, Balance Sheet
and Cash Flow Statement) are prepared and updated.

Coordinating with the external auditors is also the responsibility of this section.
Whenever the audit team is having any query regarding any issue of the whole Finance
Wing, it is the Book-Keeping and Consolidation Section which jumps in to answer the
query and to satisfy the audit objections. Like Computer Section, this is also a small
section comprised of few but competent employees. Most of them are CA or ACCA. In

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this section, I was supposed to prepare expenditure statements as well as reconciling

inter-office statements:

• Preparing Expenditure Statements:

First of all I learnt how to prepare the expenditure statements. This was one of the
toughest tasks for me throughout my internship period because it required complete
concentration as well as a lot of time. Even though, I tried my level best and prepared
the expenditure statements for budget expenses. Whenever the amount is allocated
from the MOC, it comes to NHA in te form of budget. In this budget, each
expenditure head is given a budget code to which a specific amount is allocated from
the budget. While preparing the expenditure statement, the concerned authority
assigns the budget code to each transaction in the journal book. On the basis of these
codes, I compared the expenditure made under a certain budget code with the budget
allocated against that code. I was asked to take all non-bank accounts of the journal
book and all bank accounts of the cash book and match them. It was mandatory that
the net amount in both books must match with each other. Otherwise, there is some
problem in the entry, which has to be resolved after complete checking of accounts.

• Inter Office Statements Reconciliation:

Another task performed by me in the Book-Keeping and Consolidation Section was
the inter office statements reconciliation. Reconciliation starts with the trial balance.
Firstly, I learnt to check the nature of the balance of each account head. After that, it
is made sure that the nature of the balance matches the nature of account. E.g. if it’s
an asset head it should have a debit balance, if it’s a liability head it should have a
credit balance. If the nature of balance does not match with the nature of account, I
was supposed to find out the possible reasons why the nature of balance and the
nature of account are mismatched. Though it was a tough job yet I concerned my
mentor again and again to find out the discrepancies and to complete my job
successfully.

2.2.8. ORIENTATION AT DDO SECTION:

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My second last destination according to my internship schedule was the orientation at

DDO Section (or the Cash Section). ‘DDO’ stands for ‘Drawings and Disbursement
Office’.I was given a brief overview about section by the mentor. The responsibility of
this section is basically the funds management. Whenever any type of disbursements to
employees, contractors, consultants or suppliers is made, cheques are issued by this
section. When a payment voucher is received from any section, cash section prepares
crossed cheque for the amount and enters the date and serial number of the cheque on the
voucher using GL System. Before making the payment, budget under the head is
checked. If budget is not available under the head, approval of the competent authority is
taken before issuing the cheque for the payment. Similarly, Receipts vouchers are
prepared by cash section. The section maintains accounts with banks and reconciles cash
books with bank statements on monthly basis. This section also arranges inter-bank
transfers of funds as and when required. As the cash books are maintained in this section,
so the bank reconciliations are also prepared by the same section.

2.2.9. ORIENTATION AT CP FUND SECTION:

My last week was scheduled as the orientation at the Cumulative Provident (CP) Fund
Section. CP Fund Section is given the responsibility of maintaining the information
regarding contributions, deductions and balances of the CP Fund accounts of each
permanent employee of NHA. CP Fund is the form of a saving facility given as
incentives to the employees. Contributions to this fund are made out of both NHA
budgets as well as employee’s monthly salary. These contributions are made on fifty-fifty
basis and sum of the contributions is handed over to the employee in case if he/she got
retired, injured or died (in last case amount will be handed over to the dependents of died
employee). In case, if the employee is willing to withdraw some amount out of this fund,
he/she can take that but upto a certain limit. This limit is assigned by the concerned
authorities depending upon the tenure and age of the employee. The section is responsible
for handling these funds as well answering to the employees if they are having any
queries regarding their accounts and balances.

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2.3. SWOT ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL HIGHWAY AUTHORITY:

During my 2 months internship at National Highway Authority Head Office, I tried my

best to observe the organization from third person’s point of view. According to my
observations, I noticed a few of internal Strengths and Weaknesses and some

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Opportunities and Threats for NHA from the external environment. Let’s have a look at
each of them:

STRENGTHS:
• NHA is having a monopoly in construction and development of highways and
motorways of Pakistan.
• The working environment for employees at NHA is much better than most of
other public sector organizations.
• NHA has a strong commitment and a relationship of trust with the leading
contractors like NLC, FWO etc.
• Sources of revenues are huge in number for NHA like through toll taxes,
restaurant rents, advertising fees, police fines etc.
• NHA is having in-house computerized GL Software which is being operated
successfully on the entire organization and creating a platform for the unified data
storage and retrieving.
• Despite resource constraints NHA has successfully completed several mega
projects.
• The building of NHA Head Office is beautiful master piece and contains all of the
modern facilities in it.
• NHA is having a road network of only 4.4% of Pakistan’s total road network but
carries 80% of the country’s overall commercial traffic and thus is the backbone
of the economic stability and progress of Pakistan.
• NHA is having a strong support from Ministries of Communication and Finance.
• Free pick & drop service for the employees.

WEAKNESSES:
• Favoritism practices are common amongst the entire organization.
• During my internship period, I came across a lot of corruption cases incurred by
employees at different levels of the organization.
• Lack of punctuality amongst the NHA employees.

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• There is no visible evidence of successful leadership in the organization.

• Leg pulling of colleagues is a common practice.
• Female employees are very rare which makes NHA Head Office as male-
dominated organization and hence reduce the competition.
• Office assets of the organization are misused. For example, computers are mostly
used for playing games and other things.
• Behavior of most of the employees towards the female employees is very rude.
• Employees’ getup and way of dressing is quite different from the elegant building
setup. Most of the employees come to office untidy and in rough form.
• There is no cafeteria for employees and they have to go to nearby restaurants for
their lunch.
• There is no common room for female employees to offer their prayers and other
tasks.
• Files and records of old projects are placed roughly in the godown, without any
proper mechanism.

OPPORTUNITIES:
• NHA can help in increasing the FDI of Pakistan by attracting more foreign
contractors to start their operations in Pakistan.
• NHA can convert its Trainees (who are young and more talented) from contract
employees to permanent employees.
• Awareness through a strong advertising campaign should be created amongst the
people to protect the plants and trees besides the roads and follow the rules and
regulations of the roads.

THREATS:
• Increasing terrorism and blasts can destroy the completed and/or in-progress
projects of NHA.
• Monopoly of NHA can be affected if government allows other authorities to start
the operations related to construction of roads and communication means.

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• Privatization can also be a threat for those employees who just enjoy leisure and
time pass from their jobs at NHA.
• Natural disasters like Tsunami or Katrina can destroy the highways and
motorways and can require a huge costs for reconstruction.

2.4. RECOMMENDATIONS:

Though 2 months are not enough to understand and give suggestions for the improvement
of an organization yet I will recommend these points on the basis of my observations:

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• Leadership should be strong and changed after a fixed period of time. This will
reduce the stagnancy amongst the operations of NHA and will remove the
biasness from the organization.
• Attendance through technological means should be taken in order to make the
employees punctual and responsible.
• Proper dress code of employees should be determined, in order to give a proper
look of an office environment.
• Computers and other costly equipments should be granted only to those
employees who are competent and can use them in the proper way.
• Most of the work done at the Finance Wing is through the Trainees who are
working for very limited salary packages. According to observation, all of them
are educated and well-mannered. So, if their salaries are increased or if they are
accepted as the permanent employees, they will definitely put their more extra
energies to get their work done.
• Audit should be done twice or thrice a year to reduce the corruption and frauds as
well as to increase the check and balance over the employees.
• Quota for female employees should be increased in order to increase the morale
of already working females as well as to increase the competition amongst the
employees.
• A cafeteria must be opened within the premises of head office so that time
wastage of employees for lunch break should be reduced.

CONCLUSION

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I found NHA as one of the better organizations as compared to rest of the public sector
organizations. It has rendered a lot of services to Pakistan and the Pakistani People by
enhancing the infrastructure for trade and communication in the country. It is one of
those organizations which can become benchmark for others if just it makes few changes
in its operations and practices. Verbally, the functions of NHA can be categorized as
construction and maintenance of highways and motorway. But in my opinion, it is
providing a platform for the economic progress and stability in the country.

While doing internship at NHA, I got able to equip myself with the experience of
practical life and especially the learning of working in a public sector organization. I
think, I was successfully able to gain sufficient knowledge of office work which will help
me throughout my career to polish my capabilities and to work for my prospective
employer in a proper way.

REFERENCES

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• NHA Codes 2005

• NHA Finance Manual
• NHA Establishment Code 2007
• NHA Annual Report 2007
• www.nha.gov.pk
• Direct Interaction and Learning from:
- My Mentor Mr. Ahmad Hassan (AD – Accounts AP)
- Mr. Khurram (Trainee – Establishment Section)
- Mr. Atif (Trainee – Establishment Section)
- Mr. Shahid (Trainee – GOP Section)
- Ms. Zainab Ashfaq (Senior Trainee Accounts Officer)

APPENDICES

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• Schedule of Internship Program

• List of Mega Projects of GOP & AP Sections

LIST OF MEGA PROJECTS OF GOP SECTION:

• LRTP (Lowari Rail Tunnel Project)

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• MCHP (Makran Coastal Highway Project)

• LEP (Liyari Expressway Project)
• IMDC (Islamabad Murree Dual Carriage way)
• N-65 (Sukkar Sibi Quetta Project)
• Torkham Jalalabad Project
• Kharian Rawalpindi Project
• Mansehra Naran Jalkhad Project

LIST OF MEGA PROJECTS OF AP SECTION:

• KNBP (Karachi Northern By-pass Project)
• KTP (Kohat Tunnel project)
• M-8 ( Gawadar Ratodero Project)
• Karachi Chamman Project
• Peshawar Torkham Project
• IHP (Indus Highway Project)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and supreme power is Allah the most beneficent who gave me the power and
knowledge to complete my task successfully.

I am thankful to my institute, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology that gave

me the opportunity to apply my skills in a professional environment. I am also thankful to
Finance Wing, National Highway Authority.

I am very grateful to my Mentor Mr. Ahmad Hassan (AD – Accounts AP) for his
guidance and support throughout my internship tenure.

In addition, the compilation of this report would not have been possible without the
support and contribution of Mr. Khurram Ayaz and Mr. Atif (Trainees – Establishment
Section).

I would also like to thank my family who encouraged me through out my internship.

May Allah give me the serenity to fulfill my commitments. (AAMIN)

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