New housing project near airport in the works

RDA chairman says around 95 per cent work of civic body digitalised

RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Chairman, Tariq Murtaza, has said ‘Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme’ will be constructed near the airport at a cost of Rs443.185 million.

Speaking at a press conference held on Thursday, he said that the revenue collected by the organisation has increased as RDA earned Rs559 million while it saved Rs1billion this year. In addition, RDA received and approved 1,600 maps, which itself is a record. The chairman said that up to 95 percent of the organisation’s work has been digitalised, including state management.

He said there is a staff shortage in the organisation, which will be addressed and eleven officers, four engineers and a sub-engineer will be hired soon. While commenting on the action against illegal housing schemes, he said notices have been issued to 307 illegal housing societies while 135 of them have already been demolished.

Speaking about development work in the city, he said that Qadeer Khan Chowk, a two-lane road passing through Missile Chowk, has been completed at a cost of Rs220 million.

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Meanwhile, plans to improve the traffic situation on Kachehri and Defence Chowk are under consideration. He said added that over Rs3 billion will be spent on the construction of Kachehri Chowk. He added that three pedestrian bridges are also being constructed.

“Rs3 billion have been released for land acquisition for Leh Expressway on which work will be done in Public-Private Partnership (PPP),” he said. A 123-km long tourist highway project will also be constructed which will connect four tehsils of Rawalpindi, Kallar Syedan, Kahuta, Kotli Satyan, and Murree, he added.

Under a federal government project, old roads will be widened at a cost of around Rs4.5 billion o which Rs1.5 billion will be released this year.

The RDA chief said trees have been planted on three acres in Rialto Park, which will become a forest by next year. Three mosques in the city have been fixed for the rain harvesting project. Under this project, mosques will use harvested rainwater for ablution and gardening.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2021.