RAWALPINDI: Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha on Monday asked Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to form a committee to conduct a survey of Leh Nullah to lay a trunk sewer to transport the sewage out of the city for agriculture purposes.
The committee will be headed by RDA Chief Engineer Dr Habibul Haq Randhawa and comprise representatives of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and Land Revenue Department.
The commissioner also asked the RDA to contact the Capital Development Authority and the Islamabad administration for their input in Leh Nullah as sewage from the federal capital discharged into it at Kattarian.
These directives were issued at a meeting held with the commissioner in the chair. The meeting was attended by RDA Director General Saif Anwar Jappa, Wasa Managing Director Mohammad Tanveer and senior officials of the district administration and representatives of Nespak.
Meeting briefed on tunnel technology to lay water and sewerage lines without digging roads
On the directives of the chief secretary, Wasa Lahore Managing Director Ghufran Ahmed gave a briefing about tunnel technology to lay water and sewerage pipelines without digging roads.
The meeting was informed that the total length of Leh Nullah from Kattarian Bridge to Soan River near Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench building was 16 kilometres and daily discharge of sewage into it was 600 cusecs.
The RDA prepared PC-I of Leh Nullah Expressway and Flood Channel to construct roads and the flood channel on its both sides to avoid flooding in the garrison city during the monsoon season.
The last flood that theLehwitnessed was on July 23, 2001. Just a few hours of 620mm rain resulted in the worst floods in the city’s history. Thirty-five people lost their lives while many slums were swept away resulting in financial losses worth millions of rupees.
If heavy rains occurred in the twin cities, the nullah water level can rise to the 18 feet dangerous level mark. NullahLeh is full of polythene bags that adversely affect its water flow.
Originally, the project started in 2006 and was launched by the then president Pervez Musharraf. It was the brainchild of local MNA and then railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. The total cost of the project at that time was Rs20 billion.
In 2008, the PML-N formed its government in Punjab and stopped work on the project.
However, in 2019, after the formation of the PTI government in the centre and Punjab, the project was restarted. But despite preparing three plans from 2019 to March 2022, no work could be started.
In the latest plan, the RDA wanted to construct a trunk sewer and a 17km roads on both sides of the nullahfrom Kattarian bridge on I.J. Principal Road to Soan Bridge on G.T. Road.
According to RDA officials, the total width of the concretenullahand dual carriageway at New Kattarian would be 55 metres which would gradually increase to 80 metres at the ending point at Soan Bridge.
They said no new bridge will be constructed under the new PC-I as the existing bridges would be repaired and modified. They said that there would be no interchange either. However, the government was working to install a plant to treat the sewer ofLehNullahto avoid flooding in the garrison city.
The Punjab government was to allocate Rs65 billion for the construction ofLehNullahand dual carriageway on both sides and Rs25 billion for land acquisition.
Earlier, PC-I for land acquisition and structural compensation amounting to Rs25 billion had beenapprovedby Ecnec on December 22, 2021 and the administrative approval was given on January 19, 2022.
Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2023
