Projects under RDA face inordinate delays

Progress on multiple projects falls prey to regime changes in quick succession

RAWALPINDI:

The absence of a policy-making forum and governing body in the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has led to considerable slow-down in the execution of projects in the pipeline.

Changes in governing authorities in the province of Punjab this year in quick succession have resulted in bringing important decisions and affairs to a standstill.

Projects pending implementation have gone into cold storage, planning for new projects has halted and progress on projects that were underway is also next to non-existent.

Due to the absence of a governing body in the RDA, the 2022-23 fiscal budget still awaits final approval after being provisionally approved by the body’s financial sub-committee.

Former chairman Tariq Mehmood Murtaza had left his post in RDA after the ouster of former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar, which had also resulted in the dissolution of the authority’s governing body.

The affairs of RDA were largely ignored in the subsequent chief ministership of Hamza Shehbaz, which unfortunately continues in the present era of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Currently operating under a director general, numerous RDA mega projects are on hold, including RDA employees housing society, an incomplete parking plaza and others.

Furthermore, there is little to no action by the authority against selling of plots as well as illegal construction under the aegis of big housing schemes without the approval of RDA.

As the primary executing agency, the RDA is also unable to make much headway in mega development projects such as Rawalpindi Ring Road, Leh Expressway, Kachehri Chowk remodelling and extension, Defence Chowk remodelling and extension, Liaquat Bagh, signal-free corridor along Marir Chowk and more.

The governing body, formed under the supervision of the former RDA, was dissolved after the end of the Buzdar government and was not reconstituted in the Hamza Shehbaz regime. The situation remains the same under the current provincial government and no progress has been made on the recruitment of the chairman in RDA and its governing body.

It was earlier reported that the Rs2,287 million budget of RDA, approved by the now-dissolved finance sub-committee on May 30 for the financial year 2022-23, has fallen prey to red-tapism as the Punjab government has failed to approve the budget in the absence of the civic agency’s chairman and governing body members.

Earlier, the RDA had sought Rs2.287 billion from the Punjab government for various development projects, including the Rawalpindi Ring Road and the Leh Expressway and flood channel projects in the next financial year.

In the absence of a governing body for final approval of the budget, it has been decided to send the budget estimate to the Punjab government for approval, the sources said.

The RDA had achieved the revenue target of Rs433 million in the outgoing financial year.

Similarly, a total of Rs395 million has been allocated for non-development expenditures including salaries, pension, utility bills and maintenance etc.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2022.