RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will acquire 31 kanals of land on Murree Road to construct underpasses at Liaquat Bagh Chowk and Marrir Chowk.

The district administration has directed the district price assessment committee to determine the price of the land so that it can carry out the procurement.

“The price will be fixed by the district price assessment committee as per the directives of the divisional commissioner, as the owner will not accept the district controller’s rates for the land,” a senior district administration official told Dawn.

He said the government was working on giving the owner a price for the land on the same pattern as the one used to procure land for the metro bus project. He added that it would be difficult to procure land on the area’s official rates.

Assessment committee tasked with determining price of land

The official said the price assessment committee would present its report to the commissioner within a week or two, after which the commissioner would send it to the Punjab government for final approval.

The committee has been given details of the land to be acquired, he said. “Three hotels and shops on Murree Road near Liaquat Bagh will come under the project. A petrol station and a commercial building on Marrir Chowk will also be affected.”

He added that since 2018 is an election year, the government wants to give a better price for the land so that it does not create any problems for the ruling party during the general election. Traders and local politicians are being taken into confidence before the procurement of the land and before the price is fixed.

When contacted, RDA Chief Engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari said the RDA would start working on the project soon after it receives funding from the provincial government; it will likely start in a month or two.

He said they would start procuring land after the price is fixed. The commissioner has tasked the district price assessment committee with fixing the land rates.

Mr Bukhari added that the project will be tricky to carry out on Murree Road, as construction would disturb traffic. But, he said, efforts would be made to avoid creating problems for the public.

He added that underpasses were an important project that would end traffic congestion and make Murree Road signal free. After this project is completed, work will begin on the I.J. Principal Road underpass.

Mr Bukhari said the feasibility study on the I.J. Principal Road project to connect Double Road with 9th Avenue has been completed, and the project will likely begin in the next fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2018