Uplift schemes face delays amid financial crisis

Cost of 8 projects escalates by 50% due to rise in rates of materials

RAWALPINDI:

All local government institutions and development bodies in the Rawalpindi district will not be given development funds for pending development schemes in the third quarter of the fiscal year for 2024-25 (January 1 to March 31) due to the financial crunch.

The municipal corporation, district council, municipal committee, town committee and the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will not be able to receive any development funds at the cost of mega projects.

From July 1 till now, no mega development schemes have been initiated in the Rawalpindi district because of the non-availability of funds. Even after the beginning of the New Year, all these institutions have been informed about the non-availability of funds.

The district administration has now decided to include these schemes in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of the next financial year (FY26) with increased estimated costs.

Tenders for last year's development schemes have yet to be issued and none of the eight major state-of-the-art and public welfare development projects in the Rawalpindi district will be able to start till the budget closing on June 30.

These projects include Leh Expressway, Sewage Water Treatment Plant, Daduchha Dam, Ring Road, the Ghazi Brutha Water project, Rawal Dam, a new additional Water Steel Pipeline, Chahan Dam Water Supply Scheme, Four Commercial parking plazas and a 400-bed Mother and Child Hospital.

The estimated cost of these projects has gone up by 50% owing to constant delays and record increases in the costs of building materials.

District Coordination Committee Chairman MNA Qamarul Islam says they have started the Adiala Road Overhead Bridge along with the road network in Rawalpindi. All development projects in Rawalpindi will be completed in phases, he claims.