The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) formally approved the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project after a public hearing.
The public hearing of the Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project to get the final no-objection certificate (NOC) from the provincial environmental protection agency. The RDA will formally write to the provincial environmental protection agency to issue the NOC to start work on the project.
The length of the signal-fee expressway has been reduced to 16-kilometre and the project will cost Rs108 billion. A sum of Rs240 million has been released for acquiring 665-kanal of land for the project.
Sources said that the department of environmental protection will recommend to the Punjab environmental protection agency to issue NOC for the launch of the mega project in the next three days.
The public hearing was held at the RDA office under the chair of Deputy Director Environment Department Muhammad Rafique. DD Muhammad Amin Baig, Director RDA Habibullah, Deputy Director Wasa Azizullah Khan and a large number of citizens and experts also attended the public hearing.
A representative of the consultancy firm Nespak gave a briefing on the project. Citizens and experts raised 29 objections which were removed.
Under the project, 574 big trees will have to be cut down while 665-kanal of land will have to be acquired, which will cost Rs24 billion.
After cutting down a total of 574 trees, 5740 new 6 to 10 feet of trees will be planted. In addition to this, 10,000 new fruit trees will be planted on both the sides of the expressway.
Work on the state-of-the-art Leh Expressway project, which has been pending for 16 years, could not be started by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government even though two members of the National Assembly from Rawalpindi Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Sheikh Rashid Shafique are allies of the ruling party.
The signal-free Leh Express will be built from Ammar Chowk to New Kataria. The Leh Expressway and flood channel project has been envisaged to avoid the catastrophe of Nullah Leh, as an alternative traffic route.
According to the new design, the Leh Expressway will be deepened further by 8 meters to 11.5 meters total while its minimum width will be 25 to 35 meters. The expressway will have 15 feet wide road on both sides from the Sawan River to Ammar Chowk with barriers to protect it from the intrusion of humans and animals.
The proposed project would not only provide a new alternative traffic route in Rawalpindi but also the sewage treatment plant at Gorakhpur through the open sewage cord trunks of Nullah Leh due to the flood channel project and eliminate air pollution due to drainage caused by Nullah Leh.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 14th, 2022.
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