Work on Leh project to start this year: Rashid

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said on Thursday that the Punjab government has allocated Rs55 billion for the Nullah Leh Expressway project in the current budget and work on the "game-changer" scheme will commence this year.

Addressing a weekly public meeting at his Lal Haveli residence, Rasheed said that the 18-kilometre two-lane Leh Expressway will stretch from Ammar Chowk to Pindora.

The minister said that tenders to start work on the expressway, which will have high-rise buildings on both sides, will be floated in the current financial year. He added that work on the project will be carried out under the public-private partnership.

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Rashid stated that its completion will not only ease traffic congestion but also help overcome flooding in the garrison city. He maintained that slums around the project would be shifted to alternative sites for the fortification of Nullah Leh.

The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has presented a “historic budget by giving relief to the poor and the middle class”.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2021.