ISLAMABAD: The executing agency of the metro bus project - Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) - has hinted that the civic agency of Islamabad might have to bear the expenses of repairing roads damaged during the construction of the metro bus track in the capital city.

Though earlier the project director, Zahid Saeed, had announced that all the damaged roads would be repaired under the project, the RDA recently wrote to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) informing it that the tentative cost for the restoration of eight roads amounted to Rs846 million.

These roads are: I.J. Principal Road from Faizabad to 9th Avenue, service roads I-9/ H-9 and I-8 from Faizabad to underpass-1 on 9th avenue, service road G-9 from Peshawar Mor to the F-8 intersection, Jinnah Avenue, Constitution Avenue and service road Faisal Avenue to D-chowk.

“However, the restoration work on other roads in Islamabad that too have been damaged will be repaired only if there is sufficient funds,” the letter added.

An official in the engineering wing of the CDA told Dawn that among other roads that had been affected due to the movement of heavy vehicles included the service roads I-9 / I-10. Besides, some other roads in H-9 sector have been damaged.

Some CDA officials feared that the authority might have to rebuild a number of roads as the contractors showed reluctance to repair them.

“A letter was sent two months ago to the National Logistics Cell (NLC), the contractor of the Peshawar Mor interchange, for the construction of an alternate route but it referred the matter to the RDA,” said an official of the CDA engineering wing.

“The I-9 service road is littered with ditches and almost unusable for the traffic because of active movement of heavy vehicles, including loaded trucks and cranes on it,” said Mohammad Haider, a citizen.

“And the situation is even worse for the service road I-8 where one has to cross over stagnant water and six-inch deep mud path in front of the Women Technical College.”

But the contractor maintained that the road works can be launched only after the work order was released by the RDA project director.

Meanwhile, the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Rawalpindi has refused to remove the construction materials dumped into the Leh Nullah, from Gowalmandi to Liaquat Bagh, by the contractors of the metro bus track.

A senior official of Wasa told Dawn that the agency had started desilting the nullah to avoid flooding in the next monsoon but it refused to clear the area from Gowalmandi to Liaquat Bagh. “The waste dumped into the nullah during the construction of the Moti Mahal bridge developed hurdles in the smooth flow of the water,” he said.

However, he said this year Wasa had to clear the Leh Nullah from New Kattarian to Pirwadhai. Due to the dumping of the construction waste, Wasa had to re-launch the desilting process from Gowalmandi to Liaquat Bagh which was not possible this year due to the paucity of funds.

He said the matter was brought into the notice of Commissioner Zahid Saeed who promised to stop the construction companies from dumping the waste into the nullah.

The commissioner has already imposed a ban on dumping garbage and construction material waste into the banks of the nullah, he added.

He said a Rs1,000 fine could be imposed on the violators of the ban but Wasa had not deployed its staff and just refused to clear the mess created by the construction companies,” he said.

When contacted, Waa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood told dawn that it was the duty of the RDA to stop the construction companies from dumping waste into the Leh nullah. “We have written a letter to the RDA chief engineer to stop the contractors from dumping the construction material waste into the nullah because it would create a flood-like situation in the monsoon,” he said.

He said the commissioner Rawalpindi had promised that the construction companies would clear the nullah after completing the work on the bridge over Leh Nullah at Moti Mahal.

He said the agency had already spent millions of rupees on clearing hurdles in the nullah.

Published in Dawn February 14th , 2015

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