RAWALPINDI: Despite the passage of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025-26 and the allocation of more than Rs1 billion for uplift schemes, Rs600 million by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and Rs400 million by the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB), development work has not yet begun.

A senior RCB official told Dawn that there were two reasons for the delay in development works. First, slow tax recovery, and second, revised contractor rates.

He said the cantonment board had not received direct funding from the federal government and relied instead on funds generated from property tax and fees imposed on various services.

He said the slow recovery of property tax had affected the civic body’s ability to launch new development schemes. He added that the civic body had launched many projects in the last fiscal year, which were still incomplete.

He said the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board was facing a shortfall in its revenue recovery target until June 30, 2025. He added that both boards had failed to achieve their revenue recovery targets in the last fiscal year.

In the current fiscal year 2025-26, Rs600 million has been allocated in the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board’s budget for development works, while Rs400 million is the development budget for the Chaklala Cantonment Board.

A senior CCB official told Dawn that the board’s income sources were limited, as the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board had major commercial areas such as Saddar and The Mall, where substantial revenue was generated through commercial property tax, while CCB had no such markets or commercial zones.

He said there was no direct funding from the federal government, and local representatives and CCB members had been asked to secure grants from the federal government since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in power and most CCB members were also elected on PML-N tickets.

When contacted, former CCB vice president and PML-N leader Raja Irfan Imtiaz said no new development schemes had been initiated in the cantonment over the last six months. He said elected PML-N members had approached the federal government, which had assured them that funds for public-interest projects in cantonment areas would be provided soon.

He said new development work was likely to start next month. However, he added that repair and maintenance work had been launched to improve road conditions.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2025