RAWALPINDI: Over the last 17 months, civic bodies in Rawalpindi have failed to carry out any development work as the provincial government did not release funds for new projects.

After coming to power, the PTI Punjab government announced to launch work on Leh Expressway and Ring Road projects. However, for the last about 17 months the civic bodies have remained busy in preparing PC-I of the projects.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that in 2018 the then PML-N government had approved 164 schemes for Rawalpindi worth Rs5.5 billion.

He said 33 of the projects were completed, 112 ongoing and 19 were yet to be launched.

He said the basic reason behind the pending schemes was slow release of funds. After the 2018 elections, work on the development schemes was stopped and re-launched in the current fiscal year.

Punjab govt announced to start work on Leh Expressway and Ring Road but civic bodies are still busy in preparing PC-I of these projects

The official said the government released Rs300 million in October but it was not enough to complete the projects.

On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) did not launch any uplift work.

“Three main projects were approved in March 2018 and funds were allocated but work at the sites was stopped. These projects were: Ammar Chowk Interchange, a flyover on I.J. Principal Road and the Liaquat Bagh flyover,” a senior official of the RDA added.

He said the civic body was working on the Leh Expressway and Ring Road projects and due to shortage of funds could not start any other project.

He said traffic rush had increased on main roads and there was no plan to start work on the previously approved projects. The civic body has also failed to repair roads due to which potholes have developed on them.

He said the provincial government had released Rs30 million for the construction of Dry Port Road worth Rs423 million and Rs71 million for Qadeer Khan Road worth Rs323 million. However, work on these two roads will be completed in the next fiscal year due to slow funding.

When contacted, RDA Chief Engineer Amir Rasheed said the RDA was working on main development projects and consultants were conducting feasibility studies which were likely to be completed by March end.

Meanwhile, Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) allocated over Rs1 billion for different projects but the government did not allow it to spend the amount on development works.

A senior official of RMC said they had planned to reconstruct Liaquat Road, Jinnah Road, Ganjmandi Road and Jamia Masjid Road but without permission from the government could not utilise funds.

“In the previous year, the PML-N was heading the civic body but after the change of the local government system in June the civic body came under the control of the Punjab government which is now running it through the commissioner,” he said.

In November, he added, the government declared Rawalpindi as a metropolitan city and changed the status of Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation to the metropolitan corporation.

After completing delimitations for local government elections under Local Government Act 2019, the number of union councils under the RMC increased from 46 to 70 as 24 rural areas were converted into the urban areas.

However, he said, the RMC failed to make any plan for the new union councils’ development even though RMC’s share in property tax collected by Punjab government from these areas had increased.

When contacted, Chief Metropolitan Officer Khawaja Imran Safdar said the government had asked the RMC to start development work under the Punjab Municipal Services Programme by utilising Rs500 million from the corporation’s funds.

He said tenders for the schemes had been called and the process was likely to complete in about two weeks.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2020