Report sought on work halt at Leh Expressway project

RDA submits report detailing why significant project was delayed

RAWALPINDI:

The Office of the Ombudsman, Punjab has taken notice of the special report of Daily Express Islamabad regarding the postponement of work on the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project once again and sought a report from the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA).

The provincial ombudsman asked the RDA to give a detailed report as to why it had delayed this important project which would serve as an alternative traffic road as well as eliminate environmental pollution and flood disasters caused by open sewage.

The RDA has prepared and sent its report to the provincial ombudsman.

In its report, the RDA informed that the PC-1 of the project has been prepared and the project has now been made part of the Annual Development Programme (ADP). The project will be initiated once the funds are released.

It should be noted that the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project has been waiting for implementation for the last 14 years. Its objectives include creating an alternative traffic route along the banks of Nullah Leh.

The nullah causes the worst pollution and monsoon flood disasters in Rawalpindi. The project includes plans of diverting drainage water through protected trenches instead of open sewers, and permanently eradicate floods.

In the previous regime, the federal government's forum of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved the project with four strict conditions and advised the Punjab government to arrange Rs24 billion for land acquisition of the project which could not be done.

In those conditions, it was said that the project’s clearance should be obtained through the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report; the approval of the Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) should be obtained for the cost of the project at Rs81 billion; and an investor should be found for the project.

The estimated amount of Rs24 billion for the land acquisition of the project was to be borne by the Punjab government itself as the federal government said it would not share the costs.

According to sources, fulfilling these four conditions imposed by the ECNEC is a difficult task that requires a long time. Even if the P3A approves the project, finding an investor and ensuring that the project does not have adverse effects on the environment in the EIA report are also mammoth tasks.

On July 23, 2001, 72 people lost their lives and a financial loss of Rs100 billion was caused by the flood in Nullah Leh. Work began on the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Channel project to end the ravages of the Nullah Leh once and for all, under which sewage would be safely transported through large trenches to the river Swan and then to the sewage treatment plant at Gorakhpur from where fertiliser would be prepared from sewage and water for irrigation would be provided.

An alternative 17km-long traffic route was to be developed for the twin cities from the Swan River to the Islamabad Expressway on the banks of the Leh Canal.

The project was officially launched in 2006-7 but the governments formed after 2008 scrapped the project.

In the previous regime, section 4 notification was issued for land acquisition of the project after administrative approval of the Punjab Planning and Development Department (PND).

It should be noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the source of underground and air pollution in Rawalpindi is the open sewage of Nullah Leh, which flows through about 50 small channels from the city and cantonment and falls into the nullah.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2023.