RAWALPINDI: The present government has so far failed to start work on two mega projects in the garrison city - Rawalpindi Ring Road and Leh Expressway and Flood Channel - despite a passage of over three years.

On the other hand, the Mother and Child Hospital is yet to be completed.

After coming to power, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government promised to start work on the stalled Rs105 billion Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project, the Rs30bn Ring Road project and to complete the Rs6.5bn Mother and Child Hospital at Asghar Mall.

On Oct 6 this year, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar had directed the district administration to start work on the projects by the end of the year.

MNA says work on Rawalpindi Ring Road and Leh Expressway and Flood Channel projects to start in January

The Leh Expressway and the hospital projects were launched in 2006 during the tenure of then president Pervez Musharraf. These projects were the brainchild of Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.

However, work on the projects was stopped by the PML-N during its tenure in the Punjab from 2008 to 2018. Mr Rashid, who formed his own Awami Muslim League party and became an ally of the ruling PTI, had promised to get the projects completed.

During the 2018 election campaign, the then chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar also took notice of the incomplete hospital project and visited the site and issued directions to the health authorities to complete it within six months. Though work on the project was started by the PTI-led Punjab government in 2018, it is still not completed.

During the tenure of President Musharraf, the cost of the project was Rs2.5bn and a 400-bed hospital equipped with modern facilities was to be constructed. A nursing school was also part of the project. There was also a plan to establish a centre to treat TB and breast cancer patients.

But the PTI government changed the plan as the cost of the construction escalated. Now, a 200-bed hospital is being constructed along with the nursing school and the chest diseases centre.

On the other hand, the cost of Leh expressway project also escalated from Rs20bn in 2006 to Rs105bn in 2021.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the two road projects worth around Rs48.57bn recently. The land acquisition for Leh Expressway was approved at a cost of Rs24.961bn.

The committee directed that no expenditure should be incurred till completion of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.

The project to be executed by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) envisages acquisition of 750 kanals to provide right of way for construction of the expressway and flood channel which would constitute an integral part of the transportation network of Rawalpindi besides serving the purposes of flood mitigation and sewage disposal.

The second project approved by Ecnec was the Rawalpindi Ring Road - the main carriageway from Banth (N-5) to Thallian (M-2) - at an estimated cost of Rs23.60bn. The committee also directed authorities concerned to acquire the concurrence of the Planning Commission and include axle load management in the project.

The provincial annual development programme will finance the project and the RDA will construct the 38.3km, six-lane, access-controlled Ring Road.

The project had earlier led to a major scandal involving some PTI leaders on the basis of which Prime Minister Imran Khan sacked some of his aides and senior government officials.

When contacted, PTI MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafique said Ecnec approved the two road projects on Dec 22 and work on it would be started in January.

“Leh Expressway project’s cost escalated to Rs105bn and it will be started next month,” Mr Shafique said, adding that after Ecnec’s approval, tendering process will be started.

Mr Shafique, who is the nephew of Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said the Mother and Child Hospital’s total cost was Rs6.5bn and it would become functional by the end of February.

He said Punjab Minister for Health Dr Yasmeen Rashid will visit the hospital on Dec 29 to inspect installation of machinery.

“The outdoor patient department will become functional in January as promised by the interior minister,” Mr Shafique said, adding that work on the Ring Road project would commence soon.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2021