RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (CDA) has been asked to contact its counterpart in the capital to develop a joint strategy for a rail service to connect the twin cities to the Islamabad International Airport (IIA).

A meeting held on Saturday to review development projects for Rawalpindi city discussed the project. It was chaired by Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood and attended by Director Development Nazia Parveen Sudhan, RDA chief engineer Amir Rasheed and senior district administration officials.

The commissioner called the meeting to review progress on the Leh Expressway, Ring Road and Daducha and Chahan dams. He also reviews work on the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU).

The meeting was informed that following the government’s decision to begin working on an inter-city train service called the Mono Train that would run along the Leh Nullah, the RDA had to include the remodelling Ammar Chowk in the project.

Under a previous plan, the Leh Expressway was to start at Ammar Chowk, but will now start at Soan Bridge.

Senior RDA officials told Mr Mehmood said the Ammar Chowk remodel was approved by the Punjab planning and development department, but will have to be planned again now that it has been added to the Mono Train.

They said Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed wanted to extend the expressway from Soan Bridge near the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench to Kashmir Highway, but the provincial government decided that the expressway would culminate at Kattarian near I.J. Principal Road and connect with 9th Avenue.

Nespak has begun the process to carry out a feasibility study and a Chinese firm will conduct a separate free feasibility study on the train service.

RDA officials will hold a meeting with Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials within a day or two to discuss the plan, the meeting was informed, as a memorandum of understanding will be signed between the RDA, CDA and Chinese company.

The Ring Road, Leh Expressway and train service would likely address traffic congestion in city areas because people would have another three routes to get to the airport, the meeting was told.

The provincial government wanted to connect Rawalpindi and its adjoining areas to IIA through a bus service, but no one was willing to run buses on this route. There is no public transport available to the airport.

Commissioner Mehmood also asked the consultant for the Ring Road project to present the first draft of the PC-I to him by February end.

“In the meantime, the land revenue department will complete the list of 30 villages that will be affected by this project next month,” he said.

He said that the provincial government has directed for work on water supply projects in Rawalpindi to be expedited so that the shortage of water can be addressed before the summer.

RDA officials said that the Chahan Dam project will supply water to the city areas, with a capacity to conserve 15,700 acre feet of water. More than 300,000 people will receive water through this project, they told the meeting.

The government has been contacted to procure 155 kanals of land worth Rs600 million, and funding will also be needed to set up a filtration plant along Chahan Dam, they added.

Officials also told the meeting that the Rs2.1 billion RIU project will be completed soon and the hospital will be functional by next month.

Mr Mehmood asked the Parks and Horticulture Authority to begin work to grow plants and develop lawns in and around the hospital building, while the roads department was asked to begin working on car parks and lanes on the premises.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2019