Rawalpindi lawmakers to get Rs1.5b grant for schemes in their areas

Contractors to be paid outstanding dues pending from previous projects

RAWALPINDI: To ensure the completion of development projects in Rawalpindi, the Punjab finance ministry will issue a grant worth Rs1.5 billion to seven lawmakers from the city next week.

Furthermore, tenders for some 300 development schemes have also been summoned in the first week of April to allocate money and prioritise construction.

This has sent a wave of relief amongst contractors who have been waiting a long time to re-launch development schemes in the city which have been on pause for the past 11 months after the interim government took over in June 2018.

Similarly, it is hoped that the provincial government will also clear outstanding dues of contractors who have not been paid for the past 10 months while working on past development schemes.



Punjab Parliamentary Secretary Raja Sagheer confirmed the government’s plan to release the funds to local legislatures.

He added that development schemes will bring a new wave of progress in the district.

“These funds will be used for building and repairing roads, sewage lines, boundary walls of schools, classrooms, laboratories, tube wells, water filtration plants and graveyards,” he added.

Punjab Parliamentary Revenue Secretary Adnan Chaudhry said that work on two mega projects in Rawalpindi is expected to start next month, including the Nullah Leh Expressway and the Ring Road.

Moreover, he claimed that Prime Minister Imran Khan will also inaugurate the Mother and Child Hospital in the city next month.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2019.