Nullah Leh fencing project faces axe

The project to erect barbed wire fences on both sides of the 18-km-long Nullah Leh, which wreaks havoc every year during the monsoon rains across the city, has been shelved by authorities concerned.

According to sources, the estimated cost of the project was Rs300 million. The purpose of erecting barbed wire fences on both sides of the Nullah Leh was to prevent the dumping of building materials, garbage and sewage from big factories, into it.

Funding for the project was to be paid by the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) which had approved this project by including it in its ongoing projects across the country. The scheme was to be completed under the supervision of the District Development Committee (DDC) but due to a lack of funds and inefficiency of the DDC, the programme has now been shelved till the new financial year 2024-25.

Read: Nullah Leh fencing put on back-burner

For this project, the DDC will again have to write to the quarters concerned for fresh allocation. All the other schemes approved by the FFC along with the project have been started on time, but the project to erect fences on both sides of the major drain has been stalled due to frequent transfers of officers in Rawalpindi.

At present there is a ban on throwing all types of garbage and building materials into Nullah Leh, but despite this ban, tons of garbage and building materials are dumped in the nullah every day. This has reduced its depth and width drastically over the years.

To construct the Leh Expressway along the nullah, the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) survey team had in the first phase proposed barbed wire fences to prevent the dumping of garbage and building material on both sides of the nullah, which was approved.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2024.