Ring Road to have EZs

Authority sets up five-member committee for RDA City

RAWALPINDI:

The apex development authority of the garrison city on Wednesday approved a move to include economic zones located in the city as part of the Rawalpindi Ring Road project apart from the construction of a residential project.

This was decided during the 49th meeting of the Rawalpindi Development Authority’s (RDA) governing body which was held in the authority’s conference room on Wednesday with the authority chairman Tariq Mehmood Murtaza in the chair.

To set the direction of future development of the city, the governing body approved the inclusion of economic zones along the Rawalpindi Ring Road in the city area. A formal notification on the subject is now expected to be issued by the Punjab government.

A control area of RDA will also be included so that future construction activities within these zones can be controlled as per the set principles of town planning and zoning regulations, the governing body said.

A 3,000-Kanal residential project called RDA City was also approved. The project will be built on the pattern of a similar project built by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA).

For this purpose, the governing body decided to constitute a five-member technical committee under the supervision of Major (retd) Latasub Satti, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Punjab provincial assembly member for PP-6 Rawalpindi-I.

The committee was told to compile its report on the acquisition of land for the RDA City project and other matters within 15 days.

A short-term consultancy was also approved for the housing project to prepare a feasibility report on which location suitable for the construction of RDA City will be identified.

A feasibility study for the construction of the Aerotropolis Zone along with the New Islamabad Airport was also approved.

Besides this, they agreed to hire a survey company to determine the encroachment on land earmarked for Leh Expressway along the Nullah Leh to start work after necessary action.

Approval was also given to construct buildings on RDA-approved commercial roads per the new building by-laws so that the construction industry could flourish.

The Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood submitted terms of references (TORs) for the services of a private company for the recovery of WASA arrears which were also approved by the governing body.

Sports allowance such as LDA were also approved for employees of RDA and Wasa.

Earlier, the RDA director general presented an agenda before the governing body, which was approved after questions from various members were answered.

Major (Retd) Satti, MPA PP-13 Haji Amjad Chaudhry, Nasreen Tariq, RDA Director General Ammara Khan, Wasa MD, RDA Administration and Finance director, finance department, HUD and PHE department, representatives of P&D department, local government department, representatives of Rawalpindi commissioner and deputy commissioner’s office and other officers of RDA participated in the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2020.