RAWALPINDI, May 2: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been unable to get any firm commitment from the Punjab government about the start of work on Leh project at full pace, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

Interviews with ADB officials showed that they were perturbed over the delay in the acquisition and resettlement of land for the project. They were also wary if the project could ever be completed within the stipulated time.

The officials said the Punjab government had been giving them deadlines for starting the work, but so far nothing appeared to be happening on the ground except for the “weekly high-level meetings”.

“Previously they told us that acquisition and resettlement would be completed by February 28, then we were told of April 30 and now they say all issues would be sorted by mid-May,” a senior official said.

The ADB officials expressed apprehensions that the cost of the project might go up due to the delay as the contractors, who had already been mobilized, might seek compensation as well.

The provincial government had allocated Rs200 million for acquiring 384 kanals of land. So far the exact rate for compensation has not been worked out and the Punjab Board of Revenue is yet to take a decision on various proposals submitted to it.

The allocation for land acquisition is being revised by the provincial government because of the pressure for enhancement of compensation and due to certain readjustments in the estimates initially submitted by the revenue department.

The project’s affected persons had fully exploited the referendum issue to pressurize the authorities for enhancement of the compensation.

Meanwhile, it has been further learnt that another scheme for compensation in the form of developed plots is being given final shape.

It has been further learnt that work on the removal of utilities from the project area is also facing certain problems which is resulting in delays.