RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Friday asked the contractors of metro bus project to meet December 25 deadline even if they had to run three shifts.

The message was conveyed to the contractors during a meeting presided over by Project Director and Commissioner Zahid Saeed. The meeting was attended by Hanif Abbasi, Chief Engineer RDA, Project Manager Nespak and other relevant officers and contractors of the project.

The meeting was convened to review work especially on package one and three in Rawalpindi and package four and five in Islamabad.

During the meeting, Commissioner Zahid Saeed expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of work. He said despite repeated instructions the contractors were not working round the clock.

Zahir Khan of MS Zahir Khan and Brothers and MS Lemac and Reliable’s Waseem Afzal blamed the sit-ins in the capital for the delay in Islamabad portion. 

However, the project managers of packages I and III Rawalpindi and package IV Islamabad assured that they would complete work by December 25. 

As far as work on package V Islamabad is concerned a separate meeting will be held shortly to work out a strategy to complete work along with other packages.

When contacted, Commissioner Zahid Saeed told Dawn that the contractor MS Lemac and Reliable, working on package V, (Parade Lane to Pakistan Secretariat) had demanded additional funds to meet the losses they had to suffer because of sit-ins.

“The RDA formed a committee comprising RDA chief engineer, Nespak project manager and contractor to assess that whether the contractor’s demand for additional funds is genuine,” he said.

He said the RDA also called a meeting to review work on package II (Committee Chowk to 6th Road) in Rawalpindi and package II (9th Avenue including Peshawar Mor Interchange) in Islamabad. The two portions had been given to National Logistic Cell.

“Work on the project was moving at a snail’s pace. We have asked the contractors to accelerate work as all hurdles to shift utility services had been removed and their work should be visible in these packages,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 25th , 2014