RAWALPINDI: The metro bus project construction company has not removed construction waste from along the Nullah Leh, causing experts to warn the local administration to clear the area, as the debris could cause a flood-like situation in the city during the coming monsoon season.

That the waste has not been removed a year since the project’s completion has exposed the performance of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA). As the executing agency of the project, it was the RDA’s responsibility to make contractors dispose of construction material waste outside the site.

Instead, the contractors – particularly for package I (from Saddar to Committee Chowk) – dumped construction waste along the Nullah Leh, from Rialto Cinema to Gowalmandi Bridge, just a few yards away from RDA and Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) offices.

A year after completion, waste from metro bus construction has not been removed from nullah

This caused an unusual flood-like situation in the city in December 2015.

“The water level crossed dangerous levels in the winter and last monsoon, and after this Wasa wrote a letter to then commissioner Zahid Saeed to give additional funding to lift the construction material waste or direct Zahir Khan and Brothers (ZKB) to clear the banks where construction material waste had been dumped,” a senior RDA official told Dawn.

According to him, RDA and Wasa officials over the last year have taken up the matter at various forums, but their requests have not yielded a response from the government.

The official said the metro bus contractors were “more powerful” and RDA officials did not enforce their directives without the government’s assistance.

The official added that the contractor had yet to improve carpeting on Murree Road from Saddar to Committee Chowk or fix potholes at Marrir Chowk.

“Street lights have not been installed in the underpass even though the contractor completed the project a year ago. The elevators and escalators are also in bad condition in several places,” he added.

He said the contractor took two years to complete the bridge over the Nullah Leh, and left waste material on its banks which obstructed the flow of water.

There is also a ban on dumping garbage and construction waste on the banks of the Nullah Leh, imposed by the division commissioner. The City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) has been directed to impose a Rs1,000 fine on any individual caught doing so.

On Thursday, a Wasa team along with the army visited the nullah to inspect ongoing desilting. Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood, and 111 brigade representative Maj Mohammad Khalid pointed on obstructions to the flow of water in the nullah.

“We wanted a permanent solution to the Nullah Leh problem. We asked the commissioner to ensure that construction material waste is lifted by the contractor,” Mr Mehmood told Dawn.

He said the civic authority has already begun desilting the nullah from Gowalmandi Bridge to Kattarian Bridge on I.J. Principal Road, and will likely complete the task by the last week of June.

“We left the portion from Gowalmandi Bridge to Rialto Cinema open for the contractor to lift the mess created by it,” he added.

When contacted, RDA chief engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari said the problem was highlighted before the commissioner, after which the RDA directed the contractor to lift the debris from the banks of the nullah as soon as possible.

He said the RDA would ensure that the work begins within a week so it has been completed by the start of the monsoon season. He said the contractor has also been asked to install lights at the Rialto Cinema Underpass that connects Murree Road with Tipu Road.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2016