Govt settles on BOT process to build Leh Expressway

Talks expected to begin with Chinese, Pakistani companies to build project

RAWALPINDI: As preparations begin to start work on the much-anticipated Rs70 billion Leh Expressway project, the government has decided to build the road link on a ‘Build, Operate and Transfer’ (BOT) basis.

This way, the government hopes to shed around 85 per cent of the expenditure burden for the mega project.

The decision, well-placed officials have disclosed, has been taken after a Chinese and two Pakistani companies expressed their keenness to build the project.

The proposed plan outlines that once complete, a toll will be placed on using the expressway and the companies will be able to charge around Rs20 per vehicle for the next ten years.

After that period, the government will get full control over the expressway, including its revenues.

Last month, the government had finalised the project concept-I (PC-I) of the Leh Expressway and Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to lay the foundation stone of the project sometime this month.

However, the government is mulling plans to extend the expressway to be 24-kilometres-long from its initial estimate of 13 km. The government, while finalising its PC-I had decided to extend it by another six kilometres to 19 km.

The expressway will start from Sawan Adda near the Islamabad High Court and will be linked with the Ammar Shaheed Chowk through an additional six-kilometre-stretch of road.

Last month, Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed had hinted that the government will try and build the project on BOT under the public-private partnership.

“Dialogues with the partners have begun,” he had said, adding that at least two of the companies interested in the project had suggested incorporating a monorail train track in the project, thereby setting up a mass transit system along the expressway.

He had further said that two graveyards and a mosque fall within the project’s radius and that they will be moved to an alternate location so that project construction can proceed.

Further, the government is planning to link the Agha Shahi Avenue in the federal capital with the new Katarian road. For this purpose, the government plans to build an additional six-kilometre-stretch of the road to the link with the 11-km-long express corridor between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

A commercial area, stretching throughout the highway, is also expected to be built along the expressway to cover some of the expenses incurred in the project.

Moreover, a flood channel will be built in the middle of the Leh Nullah along with two sewerage trunks on both sides from which the city’s sewerage would empty into the Sawan River.

This sewerage water will be treated at a treatment plant to be set up at Ghorakpur down the river. Later, this treated water would be used for irrigation and the residue as fertilizer. The government has planned to build six water recycling plants as part of the Leh Expressway project.

Drinking water for Murree

With tourists thronging the hill station of Murree, Rawalpindi District Commissioner (DC) Muhammad Ali Randhawa has said they will take measures to overcome the shortage of clean drinking water in the hilltop tehsil.

Randhawa said this while visiting the tourist destination along with Punjab Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed.

The Rawalpindi DC directed local authorities to inspect the water distribution network in the Tehsil for any leakages and to repair them immediately.

Rasheed said that water supply projects for the twin cities should be completed swiftly in order to overcome the water shortage faced by the public.

New property taxes notified

After the government had to face embarrassment for withdrawing the new schedule of property taxes owing to ‘errors’ a new set of tariffs for property registration were notified in the garrison city on Sunday, allowing the process to resume after a week-long hiatus.

According to the new list notified by the deputy commissioner, taxes for properties in upscale areas of the city have been hiked by 15 per cent while in others areas it has been increased by 10 per cent.

Officials had said that the tax lists were printed had mixed the rates for urban and rural areas which caused the confusion. Citizens who had bought stamp papers until July 3 were instructed to purchase new stamp papers with corrected rates.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has hiked property valuations by 20 per cent to 100 per cent for the purpose of tax collection on commercial and residential property sales.

In Rawalpindi, the rates go as high as Rs3.366 million per marla for residential and Rs14.4 million per marla for commercial around Bank Road, while the lowest rates are in Askari III, at Rs320,000 for residential and Rs2 million for commercial per marla.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 08^th, 2019.