In a new development, city planners have scrapped a project to set up a plant for treating the polluted and sewage water of Leh Expressway, which may cause a serious environmental hazard for the Rawalpindi city in the future.
The plant was supposed to be set up in Gorakhpur for treating sewer and polluted water of Leh Expressway or surface runoff (stormwater, rainwater) using sewers and trenches, however, it has been taken off the mega project, official sources said.
The treatment plant on a portion of a 5500-kanal of land of RDA in Gorakhpur had been planned initially to permanently do away with the environmental pollution caused by open sewage and polluted water.
A top official on condition of anonymity said that the setting up of the treatment plant on a fraction of 5,500-kanal land of RDA in Gorakhpur will render the rest of state land unusable for any purpose. “That is why the idea of setting up the treatment plant has been annulled,” he said without explaining how the polluted water of Leh Expressway will be treated and managed.
Official sources also said that it has also been decided to establish a separate company comprising experts for the urban regeneration on the banks of the Leh Expressway project, rendering the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to be only an executing agency.
Read Work on Leh project to start this year: Rashid
After the scrapping to the sewage treatment plant, the Leh Expressway project will only be a traffic route, which is expected to cut traffic congestion, allow swift access to inter-city highways and motorways.
The Leh Expressway project was supposed to be launched under the public-private partnership (PPP), however, private investors showed no interest.
Later, the RDA was given the task of urban regeneration on both sides of the Leh Expressway to generate revenue for the construction cost and land acquisition of the project.
In the initial plan of the Leh Expressway project, which is hanging in the balance for the last 15 years, it was envisaged that the open sewage of Nullah Leh will be channelised through safe sewer and trenches to the treatment plant in Gorakhpur. While the treated sewage water and manure was supposed to be used for irrigation.
RDA Chairman Tariq Mahmood Murtaza, who is working with Provincial Adviser Salman Shah on the urban regeneration project on the banks of Nullah Leh, told The Express Tribune that the idea of setting up a separate company for urban regeneration will lead to the completion of the most important process through better planning.
He said that during the urban regeneration work the conversion of residential properties to commercial ones will jack up their value and the proceeds from the project will be used for the land acquisition and the construction of the expressway.
Despite being declared a viable traffic route at every forum, the plan for the safe transfer of sewage to the treatment plant in Gorakhpur has been cancelled.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2021.
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