RAWALPINDI: Three projects aimed at easing traffic in the city will remain on the back burner as the Punjab government has failed to release funds.

The previous Punjab government had approved the projects - Rs800 million Ammar Chowk remodeling, Rs10 million Liaquat Bagh and Rs1.9 billion Marrir Chowk underpass and I.J. Principal Road interchange.

“The RDA had spent over Rs20 million on PC-I of the projects but they could not be launched last year by the last Punjab government,” a senior RDA official told Dawn.

The official said the provincial government had approved the projects in March but again they could not be launched as the Election Commission of Pakistan had announced a moratorium on development works from April 1 due to elections.

He said the present provincial government did not release funds for these projects as it wanted to bring its own projects and asked the development authority to include the tree schemes in 2018-19 annual development programme.

The senior official said after the change of government in Punjab, priorities of PTI changed and it had not allocated funds for the projects.

He said work on these projects would likely start by next fiscal year when prices of construction material would have increased manifold.

The RDA official said more funds would be required to hire consultants and revise PC-I in coming days.

He said currently the provincial government was focusing on Ring Road and Leh Expressway projects.

When contacted, the RDA spokesman Hafiz Irfan said the government had released funds for the ongoing projects and they would be completed on time.

However, he said the government had refused to release funds for the new projects. He said new director general of the civic body would inform the government about the status of the projects which had been approved last year.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2018