RAWALPINDI: After change of the government, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has renamed the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project as Rawal Expressway and Flood Channel project.

A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that besides the name change the construction cost was also reduced from Rs200 billion to Rs90 billion. He said the government would launch the project from its own funding and in this regard a new PC-would be submitted to the Planning and Development Department next week.

He said under the new plan, the RDA will construct a cemented nullah and trunk sewer and 17km roads on both sides of the nullah from Kattarian bridge on I.J. Principal Road to Soan Bridge on G.T. Road.

He said the total width of the concrete nullah and dual carriageway at New Kattarian would be 55 metres which gradually would increase to 80 metres at the ending point at Soan Bridge near Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Rawalpindi bench.

New PC-I will be submitted to Planning and Development Department next week: RDA official

No new bridge will be constructed under the new PC-I while the existing bridges would be repaired and modified. There would also be no interchanges. However, he said the government was working to establish a sewerage treatment plant to treat the sewer of Leh Nullah to avoid flooding.

The Punjab government would allocate Rs65 billion for the construction ofLehNullah and dual carriageway while Rs25 billion will be used for land acquisition.

“A new survey will be launched for land acquisition as less land will be acquired for the road construction,” he said.

Earlier, PC-I for land acquisition and structural compensation amounting worth Rs25 billion had beenapprovedby Ecnec in its meeting held on December 22, 2021, and administrative approval was given on January 19, 2022.

The official said that in an earlier plan commercial buildings and zones were to be constructed under the urban regeneration programme.

However, now the plan of urban regeneration has been shelved and only the road will be constructed.

When contacted, Commissioner Noorul Amin Mengal, who is also the project director, confirmed that the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel had been renamed as Rawal Expressway and Flood Channel and it would be constructed on government funding.

He said the federal government would provide 60 per cent funds while the remaining 40pc would come from the Punjab government.

He said there was a need to start the project as soon as possible to solve the traffic rush on Murree Road and other main arteries to connect Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

To a question, he said launching of the project on the basis of public-private partnership would be cancelled soon. A public hearing on environment impact assessment will be held on May 11, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2022