RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has started work on the revival of the Leh expressway and flood channel after 11 years.

Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed announced to restart the project during a visit to the Rawalpindi railway station on September 13.

A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that the civic agency had took out the files of the project so that a briefing could be prepared on how to make a fresh project concept.

He said there was a need to make changes to the project. “Though the project is best to end traffic mess on Murree Road and end environmental pollution, its cost has increased,” he said.

He said funds were also required for the procurement of land along the Leh Nullah. He said as per a rough estimate, there was a need of 1,100 kanals for the project.

Leh Expressway project was inaugurated in March 2007 by the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf. The total cost of the project at that time was Rs20 billion. It was decided that 50pc of the funds would be provided by the federal government and the remaining by the Punjab government.

According to the previous approved plan, the signal-free expressway would be 22 km long on both sides of Leh Nullah from Rawalpindi to Islamabad with interchanges at the Katarian Bridge, Moti Mahal and Ammar Chowk.

The project aimed at ending congestion on both Murree Road and the Airport Road. Eight flyovers and 10 bridges were also to be constructed on the expressway. A service road would be constructed for local traffic.

The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was awarded the contract which started work at the site. However, the work was stopped during the general elections in February 18, 2008, and never resumed as the project didn’t interest the PML-N government in Punjab because of the apprehension that its completion could be politically beneficial to party defector Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the project’s architect.

In July 2013, the PML-N government set aside the feasibility study conducted by Nespak and asked the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to carry out a fresh feasibility study as the previous one was outdated.

In the meantime, the provincial government launched the metro bus service project for the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

When contacted, RDA Director General Rana Akbar Hayat confirmed that the RDA had started work to revive the project. “Though there is no formal directive from the Punjab government, the RDA has made arrangements to give a briefing to the government in this regard any time.”

He said the project was declared best by experts for solution of traffic congestion.

He said after completion of the project, the issue of flooding in the city during monsoon would also be solved forever as all sewage would be brought to a treatment plant at Adiala and reused for agriculture.

He said land for the sewage treatment plant was available with Wasa along with the required funds. The official said after the Leh Expressway, encroachments on both sides of Leh Nullah would also be cleared.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2018