RDA mega projects face delays

Authority’s key projects put on backburner

RAWALPINDI:

The garrison city’s development authority has swerved from its actual purpose and instead limited itself to menial projects.

The mega projects of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) including RDA Complex, Rawalpindi Master Plan 2020-2040, parking plazas, and others have been put on the backburner, officials of the authority told The Express Tribune.

The authority has put its focus on small projects only like kitchen gardening and food streets, and issues statements only about planning for the projects, they said.

RDA Complex, according to sources, is a victim of political preferences. Its foundation was laid over a decade ago in June 2005 by the then Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Syed Raza Ali Gillani and the then RDA Chairman Hamid Nawaz Raja.

As of now, the foundation stone has been removed along with the structure’s proposed model, sources said.

However, no progress has been made after laying of the project's foundation stone and preparation of its model, mainly because of lack of funds. RDA complex has not been included in the priorities as a mega project, even though the project can also be a major source of income for RDA.

Moreover, RDA has also failed to make progress on the development of the city's first parking plaza at Fawwara Chowk. The project still needs construction of three more floors for parking, which has been pending for the past ten years.

The parking area in the basement of the project has been removed and a shelter for homeless people has been built by removing the parking area.

RDA has also not able to make progress on its housing scheme while it has also failed to retrieve its land worth millions of rupees from the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation, the development authority has so far succeeded in launching a kitchen gardening project, but despite repeated announcements to renovate the city's 100-year-old cultural infrastructure building, no practical progress has been made. According to sources within RDA, work on the pending projects will begin on the availability of resources.

The unauthorised use of resources and abuse of power by RDA officers has already damaged the credibility of the institution. A number of RDA officers are on the radar of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). Cases have been registered against seven former officers of RDA and a few incumbent officials.

Meanwhile, the authority has decided in principle to hand over the Ring Road Project to Lahore Development Authority (LDA) after its initial paperwork.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2020.