Leh Expressway project delayed yet again
PHOTO: FILE
The long-anticipated Leh Expressway project, which has faced persistent delays over the past two decades has been delayed once more due to financial constraints.
The payment of Rs95 million for establishing the Project Management Unit and the amount to kick start the project has been halted.
An amount of Rs24.960 billion was requested for this initiative, with plans for disbursement in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023–2024, commencing in September.
The project’s initiation was scheduled after the conclusion of the Monsoon flood season. These funds were sought through the District Development Programme and have received approval from the Punjab Ministry of Finance.
The Leh Expressway project was initially proposed in 2002 during Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s tenure as Punjab’s chief minister. General Pervaiz Musharraf, the former president of the country, laid the project’s foundation stone in 2007 at a ceremony held in Liaquat Bagh.
The initial estimated cost of the project was Rs17 billion, but it later escalated to Rs85 billion. If further delays occur, the projected cost could reach Rs100 billion in the future.
Rising costs of construction materials, including cement, sand, and gravel, have already increased by 500 per cent, with further escalations anticipated in the coming year.
Initially designed to encompass 12-foot roads on both sides of the 15-km-long canal, facilitating signal-free one-way traffic, a new decision has scrapped these plans.
Instead, the focus will solely be on constructing roads on both sides. Furthermore, the sewage system and treatment plant project will be separated from the Nullah Leh initiative.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had pledged Rs30 billion for this project, but due to ongoing delays, the launch of this vital public project remains stalled.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2023.