Pindi's uplift stalls as funds dry up

Flood costs, budget delays leave garrison city's development schemes in limbo

RAWALPINDI:

The first quarter of the 2025–26 financial year, spanning July 1 to September 30, has concluded without the Punjab government releasing a single rupee in development funds to Rawalpindi's 12 public development bodies, amid a worsening financial crisis. As a result, not one new scheme or major project has been launched.

The District Council Rawalpindi, Municipal Corporation, Rawalpindi Development Authority, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), and all seven Tehsil Municipal Committees (TMCs) failed to issue even a single development tender, effectively bringing progress across the city to a standstill.

A list of development schemes submitted last year was voided and returned, while the scale of flood damage across Punjab has made the release of funds in the second quarter equally unfeasible.

In a new approach introduced this financial year, the Punjab government chose not to solicit schemes from local bodies at the outset. Instead, it announced a record lump sum allocation of billions for provincial development, with the promise that only the most essential and publicly beneficial projects would be taken up. Yet between July and September, no proposals were sought from any Rawalpindi-based institution.

With no funds forthcoming, these organisations now face acute financial strain and have shifted their focus to recovering dues from the public, even resorting to issuing arrest warrants for defaulters. Ongoing projects initiated last year have slowed to a crawl under the financial squeeze.

For months, senior officials have repeatedly announced high-profile projects for Rawalpindi - including the Leh Expressway, barbed-wire fencing along Leh, Daducha Dam, rainwater storage systems, the Chahan Dam water supply scheme, commercial parking plazas, the Ghazi Barotha water supply project, heavy water tanks, sewerage tunnels and treatment plants, and new pipelines from Rawal Dam.

Yet all remain stalled due to a lack of funds. Millions already spent on feasibility studies have gone to waste, with surging construction costs rendering them redundant, while delays have driven up estimated costs by 50–60 per cent.

Federal Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi said rehabilitation of flood victims remains the government's foremost priority, but assured that alongside resettlement, mega projects for Rawalpindi will be launched this year.