RAWALPINDI: After final approval from the federal government, the Punjab government has issued orders for work to be launched on two mega projects worth Rs48 billion in Rawalpindi.

The projects are the Rawalpindi Ring Road (worth Rs23.6bn) and Leh Expressway and Flood Channel (worth Rs24.9bn).

A senior government official told Dawn that the Planning and Development Board on Tuesday gave authorisation to the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to start work on the 38km main carriageway from Banth to Thalian under the Ring Road project.

The authority will also carry out work on the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project.

He said the board had asked for initiation of necessary administrative approval of the scheme at a cost of Rs23.6bn without the Foreign Exchange Component (FEC) in accordance with a decision given in an Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) meeting held on Dec 22, 2021.

He said the committee, constituted by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) under additional secretary, Ministry of Communications, had recommended that a comprehensive study would be conducted by RDA’s Consultant M/s Nespak on the redirection of traffic from Rawalpindi Ring Road to M-2 Motorway and its further flow towards other motorways and highways falling under the jurisdiction of the National Highway Authority (NHA) and CDA. He said the provincial government would finance the entire project from its own resources.

“Federal Public Sector Development Programme funding would not be provided to the Punjab government for this purpose and instead of this, the provincial government would approach the federal government for loan,” he said.

The board also asked the ministry to take requisite measures in order to implement axle load limitations on its national highways and motorways in accordance with provisions of the National Highway Safety Ordinance, 2000.

For Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project, the senior official said that Ecnec approved initiation of the project under conditions that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study will be done before the project’s execution.

He said the entire cost of the project would be funded by the Punjab government. “Land acquisition would be carried out in compliance with the relevant law and Supreme Court’s decisions regarding commercialisation of acquired land,” he said, adding the EIA would be conducted prior to launch of the project. He said that implementation period of the project is six months.

When contacted, PTI MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafique told Dawn that the provincial government had completed homework to launch both mega projects.

He said Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was interested in completing the projects as soon as possible, adding that both projects were important for the garrison city and as their implementation would reduce traffic congestion on main arteries of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2022