RDA seeks funds for Ammar Shaheed Chowk project

Formal recommendation sent to Punjab Housing Ministry

RAWALPINDI: Struck off from the annual development programmer for the ongoing fiscal year 2019-20 but deemed as indispensable for getting rid of multiple traffic issues in the city, the top civic agency of Rawalpindi has formally requested the provincial government to provide it with the requisite funds to remodel and extend the Ammar Shaheed Chowk to Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB)

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Monday sent a formal recommendation to the Punjab Housing Ministry to transfer around Rs788 million — the estimated cost of the project — to the CCB.

The RDA has been working on the project for the past 12 years but has yet to see it get off the ground.

Once the recommendation is approved and funds have been transferred, the project is expected to commence under the supervision of the cantonment board. Earlier in a meeting at the beginning of January, Rawalpindi Commissioner Muhammad Mehmood was told that the project’s design had been finalised.

They added that the extension and remodelling project was estimated to cost around Rs788 million.

The decision to remove the project from the annual development programme had been taken in a meeting of Punjab’s planning and development (P&D) department. Provincial officials were of the view that the CCB could complete the project instead of the RDA as Ammar Chowk was located in its jurisdiction.

Earlier in 2017, the department included the project in its priority list but the project could not secure a nod from Lahore due to unidentified reasons. Sources in the P&D department had confirmed that the project had been dropped from the list of projects to be considered by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) — which approves major development projects.

However, officials in Rawalpindi consider the intersection project to be vital for the city.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2020.