RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government announced this Friday that owners of property affected by the metro bus project could be provided money by July 28, otherwise the government will get possession of their land soon after Eidul Fitr.

Rawalpindi Commissioner and metro bus project director Zahid Saeed told Dawn that the government had asked the owners to get the money against property on Murree Road by July 28 and in this regard the offices of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will remain open on Sunday July 27.

“The government wanted possession of the land before Eidul Fitr, but traders wanted time till Eid as they had to conduct business,” he said.

However, he said that the money would be provided to them by July 28 and following this, the government will get the possession of the land and the money would be given to them after this.

Govt set to acquire land for metro bus stations soon after Eid

He said that a facilitation room had been established at the RDA offices and all the documents would be verified at one office and the money would be paid to them without any delay.

He said the government had already given Rs180 million to the affected persons and Rs1.3 billion has been allocated for land acquisition.

A total of 21 kanals will be acquired for the construction of bus stations on Murree Road.

The government will construct a 23.2 kilometre elevated road upon which 10 bus stations will be established in Rawalpindi and 14 in Islamabad.

The payment for land in Islamabad would begin after Eid. A total of 7.5 kanals of private land will be acquired, most of which is located at Faizabad.The provincial government has fixed the rates of land from Saddar to Faizabad between Rs2.2 million and Rs4 million per marla.

A ceremony was held at the commissioner office on Friday and former MNA Hanif Abbasi, chairman of the metro bus project monitoring committee and, Commissioner Zahid Saeed, distributed cheques worth Rs30 million among traders.

Abbasi said that the PML-N government wanted to complete the multi-billion project within the stipulated time frame in order to facilitate residents of the twin cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, the traders were not happy with the rates fixed by the government. “Nobody is listening to the problems of the common man as the political leadership of PML-N is busy with other issues,” businessman Mohammad Ramazan said.

He said that the traders wanted the market value of the property but the government had given official rates. He said that elected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) officials were not accessible to the people.

Rawalpindi Traders Association President Sharjeel Mir told Dawn that the government would have to give more money to the traders as they had to establish their business at new sites, which will be difficult.

“It is not difficult for the government to pay more money to the traders from the Rs40 billion project. It will damage the party in future if the affected traders were not compensated properly,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2014