RAWALPINDI, Aug 15: The new director general of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), who assumes the charge on Tuesday, will be the first civil servant to head the civic agency since its inception 22 years back.

Furqan Bahadur, who was serving as director general Agency for Barani Areas Development, will replace Engineer Makeen Shahbaz, who retired on Monday.

The RDA has so far been headed by retired army officers and engineers. This will be for the first time that a civilian bureaucrat will run the autonomous entity when the city is crying for development funds.

The new RDA chief, according to officials, would face many challenges after the Punjab government’s decision to implement the building codes and discourage rapid commercialisation under ‘Punjab rules of land use classification 2011’.

The proposed construction of the elevated expressway in phases over Benazir Bhutto Road would also be a big challenge besides construction of inner city roads and establishment of an industrial estate in Rawat.