RAWALPINDI, Oct 11: The Nullah Leh expansion project is unlikely to be completed by December 31 - the latest deadline set by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), official sources told Dawn here on Saturday.

“The completion of the project prior to March next year is impossible,” the officials said, adding, “The work on the Rs36 million under-construction Gawalmandi bridge can take even much longer time.”

The Bank had to extend the deadline for the consecutive sixth time after receiving requests from the officials of the Project Management Unit (PMU) a couple of weeks ago.

The Bank had set December 31, 2001, as the first deadline for the completion of the project. The Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi had also visited the project site in June after reports of inordinate delay in the execution of the project appeared in the press. The chief minister had set June 30 as deadline. But this deadline also could not be met. This was followed by another deadline - September 30.

The authorities have so far failed to take action against any contractor despite the pledge of the chief minister that lethargic contractors would not be spared.

When contacted, the chief engineer PMU, Col Aksar Khan (retired) told this reporter that maximum of the project would be completed prior to December 31. Gawalmandi bridge, however, was likely to take some more time, he said.

Mr Khan said the PMU had also razed 25 houses in Dhok Saffu that would be helpful in the early completion of the project. The owners of these houses, he said, had secured stay orders from various courts despite the fact that they had built their houses on the state land. That’s why development work could not be carried out, he added.

Meanwhile, a deputy director in the finance section of the PMU told this reporter that there was a specific clause in the Leh contract agreement according to which the PMU would demand damages from those contractors who had committed delay.

The specific clause, he said, was already operative since the date of the first deadline and would be due after the completion of the project.