Punjab green-lights Leh project feasibility

Sources say study will cost approximately Rs41.26 million

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab cabinet has approved a fresh feasibility study of the Nullah Leh flood channel and expressway project to resolve urban flooding during moonstone and establish an alternative traffic route between the twin cities.

The study has been remained as the "Feasibility Study and Detailed Design of Leh Nullah Project." According to official sources, the feasibility study will be completed in six months.

The new project will include a sewage trunk, a flood channel, and a traffic route between the twin cities.

On January 14, a meeting of the Punjab cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, approved an expanded scope for the feasibility study of the Nullah Leh project, initially limited to a trunk sewer design.

The newly named "Feasibility Study and Detailed Design of Nullah Leh Project" will cost approximately 41.26 million rupees.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority will act as the executing agency and will seek proposals for the selection of a consultant, who is expected to submit the report within six months.

Based on the cost assessment, the project contract will be awarded.

This will involve transferring the open sewage flowing into Leh Nullah to large trunks, eventually reaching Gorakhpur through the Soan River, where a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) will be installed.

Furthermore, a new alternative traffic route will be constructed on both sides of Leh Nullah for Rawalpindi and Islamabad, while a permanent path for stormwater will be created in the middle of the nullah. It is important to note that the project, which includes the construction of a flood channel and an alternative traffic route to eliminate open sewage from Leh Nullah, has been pending since 2007.

While work had started on the project, it was halted after the 2008 elections and subsequent federal and provincial governments discontinued the project. However, sources indicate that CM Maryam Nawaz has now directed the project to be revived and to begin with a feasibility study to bring it to fruition.