PM Imran to approve Leh Expressway’s design

Two designs of the 30-km corridor will be presented before PM Imran next week

RAWALPINDI:

Two designs for the Nullah Leh Expressway project have been prepared which will be presented to the Prime Minister Imran Khan for approval.

The project has been delayed for over 10 years, however, it has not moved ahead except for paperwork and meetings of bureaucrats who keep giving presentation to consecutive governments.

The multi-billion rupees Nullah Leh Expressway was first conceived during the regime of former dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2007 when Pervez Rashid was railway's ministry.

Officials told The Express Tribune that both designs of the 30-kilometre long corridor would be presented before the premiere next week. Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheid and National Engineering Services (NESPAK) representatives would brief PM Imran about the pros of both designs after which the prime minister was expected to approve one of them.

Following this, the tender of Leh Expressway would be issued and then through an open auction, the contract would be awarded under public-private partnership in October this year.

The Rawalpindi administration will soon start preparations for the ground-breaking ceremony of the mega-project expected to take place in November or December this year.

According to official documents Leh Nullah Basin has a catchment area of 234.9 square kilometers. The catchment area of Leh Nullah Basin is administratively divided into Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) in the upper reaches of 144.4 square kilometres and Rawalpindi city of Punjab Province in the lower reaches of 90.5 square kilometres. Leh Nullah has a length of about 30km, stretching from the Margalla hills in federal capital at the north-western edge until Soan River at the south-eastern edge in Rawalpindi district of Punjab.

The basin is located between 33º 33´ and 33º 46´ North and 72º 55´ and 73º 07´ East.

The project was under taken from IJ Principal Road at Katarian Bridge to Ammar Chowk for 11 km whereas the total length of Nullah Leh is about 19 km which ends in Soan River near High Court at GT Road.

So, it is quite evident that previous scope of the Leh Project would not address the current problems for the whole city completely and the desired result would not be achieved.

Therefore, the problems identified above cannot be addressed completely unless the subject project is extended over the whole Nullah Leh spanning over 19 Km that is from Katarian Bridge to Soan River near High Court and further connected to 9th Avenue.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2020.