Ring Road, Leh Expressway to be launched this year

RDA chief says new SOPs for building plan approval cleared half of all applications

RAWALPINDI:

The much-anticipated megaprojects of the city, including the Ring Road and the Leh Expressway projects, will be launched before the end of the year.

This was stated by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Chairman Tariq Mahmood Murtaza on Wednesday while addressing a news briefing in Rawalpindi. He was accompanied by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing-Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood, Wasa Admin Director and RDA Finance Deputy Director Junaid Bhatti, RDA Planning Deputy Director Muhammad Ijaz and other officials of the authority and agency.

Other projects include the construction of a flood channel, the Ghazi-Brotha water pipeline and Chhann Dam projects, work on which will start very soon.

The RDA chief added that they were working on fast-tracking the Ring Road and the Leh Expressway. In this regard, he disclosed that plans for the public-private partnership ring road project have been drawn up and alignment work have been completed, while they have received Rs6.5 billion from the Punjab government to acquire land for the project.

Noting that he is expected to give PM Imran a detailed presentation on the Nullah Leh Expressway project within few days, Murtaza hoped that the premier and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar are expected to inaugurate the projects in either November or December.

Moreover, he said that a sewage treatment plant will also be constructed at Goraghpur, near the Adiala Jail over 5,000 kanals of land.

Revised building approval SOPs

The RDA chief said that they have revised the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for approval of residential and commercial building plans in the city.

Per the new rules, Murtaza said that plans will now have to be approved within 30 days, while the change of land use applications must be decided upon in just 45 days, approval for new housing schemes must be decided within 75 days. Further, to facilitate the public, they have initiated a land records digitization and scanning process along with a one-window service.

In this regard, Murtaza said that that from July 1, 2020, as many as 135 building plans were submitted for approval of which 117 were residential and 18 commercial. Of these, around half of all applications were approved in just 15 days. Similarly, two applications were submitted for change of land use which has been approved.

The new SOPs, Murtaza said, had helped the RDA earn Rs30 million in just the past two months in terms of fees. The early approval of the building plans has created confidence amongst the people.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2020.