CHAKWAL: The federal government is yet to release funds for two mega road projects on which the construction work has been in the doldrums for over three years.
The district information officer issued a handout on Monday describing the details of a meeting held to discuss the construction of Mandra-Chakwal Road and Chakwal-Sohawa Road.
The handout said MNA Tahir Iqbal chaired the meeting which was attended by Deputy Commissioner Dr Omar Jehangir, MPA Chaudhry Sultan Haider Ali, Colonel Sajid of National Logistics Cell, Executive Engineer of Public Works Department and other officials.
Work on Mandra-Chakwal and Chakwal-Sohawa roads was supposed to be completed by June 2015
The handout claimed that the participants were briefed about the progress of work and problems and hitches.
“MNA Tahir Iqbal told the participants that Rs3 billion have been released for both the roads. He directed the NLC officials to complete the work within due time,” the handout claimed.
Work on both the roads was supposed to be completed by June 2015. On the other hand, the claim of MNA Iqbal about the fresh release of Rs3bn was contested by a senior official of the NLC.
“I fail to understand how the MNA can claim that Rs3bn have been released. In fact, the government is yet to clear our bill amounting to Rs2.52bn.”
The project to make the two roads dual carriageways was first launched on Sept 6, 2012, by the then prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. But the work was halted due to legal hitches. The project was re-launched on July 16, 2014, by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to the revised cost estimates, the 64km Mandra-Chakwal Road is supposed to be made dual carriageway at a cost of Rs6.776bn while the 70km Chakwal-Sohawa Road would cost Rs6.987bn. An amount of Rs1bn was approved for the construction of the 14km northern bypass.
The NLC has so far completed almost 90pc work on the Chakwal-Mandra Road on which a flyover is being constructed near the Murid railway crossing.
“We have spent Rs6.37bn so far on Mandra-Chakwal Road but got only Rs3.861bn from the government and Rs2.176bn are still pending,” said the NLC official.
He said the NLC had spent Rs1.9bn on the construction of Chakwal-Sohawa Road and received only Rs1.428bn.
“If funds are released, we can asphalt the 30km Chakwal-Sohawa Road but we do not have funds to carry out the work,” said the official.
Despite repeated attempts, MNA Tahir Iqbal could not be contacted for comments.
Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018