RAWALPINDI: Punjab’s Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) will take up the issue to increase the cost of Leh Nullah trunk sewer feasibility study and detailed design on Monday (tomorrow).
Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) held bidding process to hire the consultant for the feasibility study worth Rs43 million two months ago, but it received the lowest bid from Nespak at Rs299 million.
It led to trouble for the civic body to start work as the Punjab government allocated only Rs43 million for the feasibility study in the annual development programme for 2025-26.
A senior RDA official told Dawn that after seeing the huge difference between the allocated amount and the lowest bid received from Nespak, the RDA decided to inform the provincial government.
Officials say study is key to ending Rawalpindi’s recurring monsoon flooding
He said after consultation with its parent department, Housing and Urban Planning, RDA sent revised PC-I to the planning and development board for approval. He said the meeting of PDWP will be on September 29 in Lahore, and it will decide whether or not approval will be given.
He said the PDWP is likely to approve, as four to five consultants participated in the bidding process, and only Nespak gave the lowest bid of Rs299 million for the work.
From 2007 to 2025, it will be the third feasibility study to revive the project. In this fiscal year 2025-24, the Punjab government allocated Rs43 million for the feasibility study.
A senior RDA official told Dawn that the civic body wanted to have the feasibility study completed by December so it would be able to start work to manage sewage of the city. He said if the PDWP gave clearance, the RDA would give the contract to Nespak on government-to-government work basis.
“The consultant will be given three months for the feasibility study. And once the feasibility study is completed, the government will likely start work to bring the sewer from Leh Nullah to the Sewage Treatment Plant at Gorakhpur.
He stated that the consultant would be given the task to conduct study for the construction of roads on both sides of Leh Nullah from Jhelum Road near Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench to I.J. Principal Road at Kattarian bridge and construction of trunk sewer from Moti Mahal to Gorakhpur.
He said more than 5,500 kanals of land at Gorakhpur was available for sewerage treatment plant to treat the water for agricultural purposes, adding that Parks and Horticultural Authority (PHA) constructed temporary nursery at the site, but it was allocated for the treatment plant funded by Asian Development Bank.
When contacted, RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said that the feasibility study was necessary for the project, and consultant was to come up with detailed plan to avoid flooding during the monsoon season in the coming years.
She added that we requested the government to increase funds for the feasibility study as consultants were of the view that it was tricky project and needed a detailed study, and expenditures would not be met with the allocated amount by the provincial government.
The RDA director general further emphasised that the monsoon causes destruction every year, and there is a dire need to solve the issue permanently, and feasibility study will help. “Once the feasibility study is completed, the government will approve the project to deal with sewerage in Leh Nullah,” she said.
Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2025
