21 replies to this topic

[Jilawatan]

Designed by: NESPAK
Status: Proposed
Contractors: N/A
Infrastructure Type: Dual Carriageway
Construction Date: N/A
Completion Date: N/A
Length: 10.7 km approx
Area: N/A Acres
Location: Lai Expressway, Rawalpindi

Render: None

Description: The dual carriage will connect the 10th Avenue in Islamabad with the Airport Road in Rawalpindi. Each road will be on one side of the Nallah Lai similar to Lyari Expressway Project in Karachi.

Site Plan: N/A
Google Image:



Website: N/A

Edited by Tekno Arkitect, 13 December 2012 - 03:33 PM.
Info Updated!

[Jilawatan]

[Jilawatan]

Rs 30 billion to be spent on providing basic amenities to Rawalpindi
Written by pub
Friday, 09 February 2007

ISLAMABAD, Feb 9 (APP): A sum of over Rs 30 billion would be spent for providing basic amenities to Rawalpindi district during the next couple of years, District Nazim Rawalpindi Raja Muhammad Javed Ikhlas said Friday.

Talking to PTV, he said an efficient monitoring system has been devised for ensuring transparency and ontime completion of various projects ranging from provision of sanitation, clean drinking water, electricity and transport facilities to the people of Potohar region.

Planning has been finalised to construct multi billion 6.5 km long ‘Alleviated Expressway Flyover’ over Murree road from Marir to Chandani Chowk Rawalpindi.

FWO would initiate construction work on Rs 1.26 billion road expansion project from Ketchery to Airport next month.A flyover on Railway bridge would also be constructed there, he said.

Marrir Chowk was being connected with IJ Principle road at New Katarian bridge by constructing expressway on both banks of Nullah Leh.

Rawalpindi ring road project is aimed at giving safe passage to heavy traffic going to Lahore from Taxila without passing through the city areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The Ring Road would commence from Rawat and pass through Bahria Town, DHA, Adila Road, Dhamial, Chakri road, Hajj Complex and terminate at Motorway interchange.

New strategy has been devised ensuring provision of proper drainage and other necessary facilities first before commencing the construction of new roads.

State-of-the-art road equipped with footpaths and drainage system in A and C blocks have recently been completed with Rs 65 million.

One portion of road connecting Chorr Chowk to Misrael have also been completed with Rs 50 million, he said.
For providing efficient transport facilities to the dwellers of Rawalpindi city busses have already started plying on 11 routes connecting various ares of the city.

Negotiations are in final stages with numerous parties to initiate efficient transport system on remaining routs of city.

115 km mettled form to market road have been constructed during the last couple of years in rural areas of the district, he said and added that all villages of the district having 10 or more houses would be electrified by December.

Water filtration plants would also be installed at each union council of various villages of the district.The project is set to be initiated in April next and completed in December 2007, he informed.

For alleviating water shortage in the city 60 new tubewells would start functioning by March next.Sewage system was also being improved in the city with Rs 3 billion.

It has been decided to introduce meter system for judicious usage of water and ascertaining billing in accordance with the usage.
Work has already initiated on a sewerage treatment plant established on 6,000 canals land purchased recently at Adiala Rawalpindi. Sewage water would be brought to plant through a tunnel from Nullah Leh. The recycled water would be used for irrigation and other purposes.

According to a report of JAICA, Rawalpindi produces 10 million tonne waste daily. While city government has the capacity to dispose off 600 million tonnes.

Within the next three months the city government will be able to lift hundred percent garbage from the city as a number of new dumpers has been purchased. Motorcycle rickshaws have also been procured for lifting the garbage from narrow streets of the old city areas.

Furthermore 150 containers have been acquired and placed at different union councils for onward lifting and disposal.
A 650 canal land 35 km away from Rawalpindi has been purchased for dumping the garbage. Tender has already been floated for establishing a recycling plant there to produce bio-gas and electricity from trash.

In a bid to save forests, natural gas has been provided to Murree with Rs 80.4 million. A sum of Rs 2.5 billion would be spent for providing clean drinking water to Murree and new Murree areas from the river Jhelum.It can also be extended upto cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Tahsil headquarter hospital Kahuta is being upgraded with Rs 10.3 million. State of the art gynecology facilities has been provided to people. An X-ray machine has also been provided in it.

He himself will inaugurate these facilities next week.

http://www.app.com.p....=3561&Itemid=2

[Jilawatan]

No work on Leh Expressway in six months
* President Musharraf inaugurated project in March, but it was approved
last Wednesday

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has failed to start work on the Leh Expressway, sometimes called Sheikh Rashid Expressway, even after six months of its inauguration.

Sources told Daily Times that the federal government has so far provided the RDA Rs 2 billion, out of the project’s total cost of Rs 20 billion. The RDA has told the federal government that the project is still in its designing phase and construction would start in a few months.

They said the RDA had to acquire 891 kanals of land, affecting about 400 houses. They said the land acquisition process had not yet started, which was the main reason for the delay in the project.

It is strange that President Pervez Musharraf inaugurated the project in March, but the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) chaired by the prime minister approved the project last Wednesday.

They sources the Leh Expressway would be a 22 kilometre long signal free road, flanking the nullah from Rawalpindi to Islamabad. The average speed on these roads would be 50 kph and entry and exit points would be at Katarian Bridge, Murree Road and Chaklala Bridge.

They said eight flyovers would span the expressway, a service road would be built for local traffic and fences and drains would be set up on its either side.

They said Rs 1.7 billion would be spent on construction of the expressway, service roads, fences and drains; Rs 220 million on 17 bridges spanning the road; Rs 4.4 billion on three interchanges at Katarian Bridge, Murree Road and Chaklala Bridge, Rs 3 billion on eight flyovers; Rs 4.6 billion on earth reinforcement to avoid land sliding and Rs 6 billion would be spent on land acquisition and compensation.

Earlier, an 11-km road was planned on each side of the Nullah Leh from Ammar Chowk to New Katarian worth Rs 16 billion, but now this project has grown into a Rs 20 billion expressway project.

They said the RDA would also construct a cemented wall and install barbed wire around Nullah Leh besides deepening it to avoid floods.

They said the RDA had written letters to the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), asking it to locate sewerage points, but the RCB had not yet responded. They said the RDA had also sought date and sketches of sewerage lines from the Rawalpindi Environmental Improvement Project (REIP) and Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). This record, they said, would help build the expressway in a better manner, which aims to reduce traffic burden on city roads.

[Tekno Arkitect]

Work on expressway, Leh Nullah flood channel from 1st

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RAWALPINDI: The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) will start work on the Sheikh Rashid Expressway and Leh Nullah Flood Channel on October 1 and complete it in two years, said Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Director General Parvaiz Mahmood Khan.

The project was inaugurated by president general Pervaiz Musharraf in march 2007 and now work will finally start after a delay of nearly 6 months.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) recently sanctioned Rs 17.769 million for the two projects.

The RDA chief, while chairing a meeting here on Tuesday, said work on the Sheikh Rashid Expressway and Flood Channel would be completed in phases, and a bridge would be built to link the Murree Road with Gawalmandi in the first phase. The expressway will help Rawalpindi residents to reach Islamabad in five to ten minutes which is almost five times less than the time currently required.

Mahmood Khan said Leh Nullah would be converted into a flood channel to save Rawalpindi from havoc wrecked by monsoon flooding. He said concrete panel would be used for the channel’s construction to ensure a smooth flow of rainwater from Islamabad Margalla Hills to Sawan River.

He said the federal and Punjab government would equally share the project’s cost. He said the FWO had been provided with the required funds to start work on them.

He said the FWO had already mobilised at the site and were carrying out test piling work for construction of flyover at the Murree Road and Gawalmandi bridges.

[Tekno Arkitect]

RDA resumes work on expressway

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The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has started work on the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Channel Project which was suspended due to non-transfer of funds.

Talking to ‘The News’ here on Wednesday, Rawalpindi Development Authority Director General Brigadier ® Parwez Mahmood Khan said that funds for the project have now been released. Earlier, work on the mega project remained suspended due to non-transfer of funds. Now the account has been transferred from personal leisure account to special drawing allowance, he said.

The completion period at the time of inauguration of the project was two years. However the RDA has decided to complete all components of the development scheme in five years — after addition of two more components in the scheme.

The RDA has made amendments in the project by adding more components, including construction of 20 flyovers at different points on both sides of Murree Road. Earlier, only 10 flyovers were in the agenda of the Rawalpindi Development Authority. Now 10 more flyovers have been added in the project, which would be constructed on both sides of the road.

The RDA director general said that there was no hindrance in the release of funds of the project. A slight problem arose with regard to transfer of the account after dissolution of previous assemblies. It halted work on the project on temporarily, he said.

The RDA director general said that it is the job of contractors to recruit more staff for the project. The Rawalpindi Development Authority would only recruit a director for the Project Management Unit working on the Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project.

The RDA had invited applications from interested candidates on contract basis for this purpose. However, the plan has been dropped temporarily due to reasons better known to concerned officials in the Punjab government and Rawalpindi city government. Hundreds of applicants had applied for different posts but they have not been called for interviews and tests creating uncertainty among them.

[Zain Abbass]

Expressway’s name being changed



By Inamullah Khattak
RAWALPINDI, March 29: The name of the multi-billion expressway project in Rawalpindi after former railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed is being reverted to its old title of Leh Expressway.

Leh Expressway Project, which was conceived in 1995, was renamed after Sheikh Rashid by President Pervez Musharraf during a public rally at Liaquat Bagh last year.

The new name has been unanimously proposed by the Planning Commission (PC), Directorate of Designing and Consultancy (DDC) of General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The revised summary (corrigendum) regarding the new name has been sent to the PC.

The controversy over the name came into open after the political parties winning the February 18 elections warned the authorities concerned that the project would cease to materialise if its name crediting an outvoted politician was not changed.

It may be mentioned that a banner inscribed with the name of the project as Sheikh Rashid Expressway and installed in front of Moti Mahal has already been removed.

At present, the contractor, FWO, has abandoned work on the site but official sources in the organisation told Dawn that they were waiting for the nod of the PC after renaming of the project.

“There is no technical or financial impediment to the project except the controversy over its name. This project is going to be executed for the welfare of the people,” said an official source in RDA, which is the executing agency.

Director General RDA Brig (retired) Saeed Baig also said there was no technical challenge in the execution of the project.

“What I have learnt in project management discipline is that the first cause of failure of any project is its naming after a personality. I am dead sure that the project would be completed within the stipulated time,” Mr Baig told Dawn after refusing to comment on the new name of the project.

The Rs22 billion project envisages a 22-km-long signal-free expressway on both sides of Leh Nulla which has flooded 20 times since 1960, killing hundreds of people and damaging public property worth millions of rupees.

The biggest technical challenge to the project was how to accommodate the flood water by constructing retaining walls on both sides of the drain as in this way there would be no outlet for the gushing water.

The PC had sent a team of officials to some Asia-Pacific and European countries to study similar projects and visualise a design for the expressway.

During the visit, it was pointed out that valves should have to be installed on various places in the retaining wall in order to release the increasing water to other mini-drains for minimising the pressure of flood water.

However, the report prepared by the officials has not been made public and has been submitted to the PC and FWO.

[Tekno Arkitect]

Will scheme of elevated expressway be revived?

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The much-trumpeted project — Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Plan — has almost been shelved. The Punjab government is now considering the plan of an elevated expressway (flyover) project from Mareer Chowk to Chandni Chowk.

Highly-placed official sources told ‘The News’ here on Tuesday that on orders of the provincial government, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) director general has submitted a summary on the elevated expressway costing Rs18 billion. The previous PML-N government had planned to start work on the elevated expressway. However the next government of PML-Q dropped the plan and preferred to start work on the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Plan. The project was inaugurated by President Pervez Musharraf in March 2007. It was to be completed in two years from the time of its inauguration. However despite passage of more than one year, work on the project remained suspended for one reason or the other and not even 10 per cent of work was completed.

According to sources, the provincial government has planned to review and study components of the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Plan to decide about its fate. However final decision in this regard would be taken by PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif after by-elections, sources claimed. The decision would take at least six months, they said.

However serious efforts are being made to launch work on the elevated expressway for solving traffic problems on Murree Road. The project is likely to be launched during the current year. All work on the project, including survey and feasibility report on the elevated expressway, has been completed. Only allocation of funds is left which would be done by the Punjab government, sources said.

Sources said that traffic plying between Mareer Chowk and Chandni Chowk would not be affected at all during work on the elevated expressway. However the official spokesman, Nauman Dahir, expressed his reservations over commenting on the issue of Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Plan. He said that RDA Director General Makeen Shahbaz is the right person to brief on it. However the director is on leave, he said.

At the same time, the official spokesman informed that freezing of development funds after change in government is the main impediment in the way of restarting work on the Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Control Plan. He expressed his unawareness that the idea on working over this project has been dropped or given up. The high officials of the provincial government would take decision on this matter, he said.

[Tekno Arkitect]

[Tekno Arkitect]

[RANA AAA]

Work on Leh Express may restart soon



Online

RAWALPINDI: The provincial government has decided to restart Rs 22 billion mega project of Lai Express and re-evaluation of the project is underway, sources said. Sources said a majority of MPs from Rawalpindi and people had suggested the provincial government to restart the project. The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) will forward a summary to the provincial government containing the information of expenditures and nature of the project and after that the work on the project would be started. The sources said the provincial government was considering completing the project in a minimum cost. It may be recalled that the project was started in the previous government and Rs. 20 million has been spent so far but the incumbent government has stopped the project.

[Tekno Arkitect]

Where are Elevated & Leh expressways?


Friday, August 07, 2009
Syed Anis Ahmad

Rawalpindi

The fate of several development projects launched in Rawalpindi about two years back is in limbo, as no progress is visible on either of them so far.

President Pervez Musharraf in March 2007 inaugurated the grandiose Rs22 billion Leh Expressway (the two-lane either side signal free road) along side Nullah Leh. The project was scheduled to be completed in two years.

The project would have killed two birds with one stone. It could have effectively controlled the devastating floods caused by monsoon rains in the nullah. On the other hand it would have brought immense relief to commuters between Rawalpindi and Islamabad by providing a safe and quick road, thus relieving the clogged Benazir Bhutto Road and made people heave a sigh of relief. But the project unfortunately was shelved on political grounds without mentioning any reason to the people of the city.

But later, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on October 24, 2008, inaugurated work on the Elevated Expressway to be built over Benazir Bhutto Road from The Mall to Faizabad.

The chief minister unveiled plaque of the Rs16 billion project from Flashman’s Chowk on the Mall to Faizabad flyover, which could have eased the flow of traffic on the busy Benazir Bhutto Road.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority had set 36 months time frame for construction of the expressway patch between Mareer Chowk and Chandni Chowk and 46 months for the rest of the work.

The work on underpasses, overhead bridges and widening of roads in Islamabad, which started about two years ago, is near completion, while in Rawalpindi work, if at all, on the mega projects is progressing at snail’s pace.

Traffic remains choked on the city’s main roads, especially Benazir Bhutto Road and its tributary link roads most of the day.

Our misfortune is that our leaders announce mega projects with great fanfare and even inaugurate them. But their completion depends purely on political circumstances. It is not the convenience of the common man that is the purpose of such projects. They are announced to make political mileage out of them.

Rawalpindi is an old and important city with great traditions. It deserves to be pampered and to have all that the government has to offer to its sister city Islamabad. There should be no step-motherly treatment to this garrison city. The practice of making tall claims frequently, just to pull wool over the eyes of the gullible people must come to end and some thing solid must be done to alleviate the sufferings of its residents.

Is it not possible to keep intact both the Leh Expressway and the Elevated Expressway between Faizabad to the Flashmans? Keeping in view the prevailing traffic woes of the city the Punjab government should resume work on both projects instead of giving preference to any one of them.

The residents of the Rawalpindi have always given their clear-cut mandate to the present elected government of the province. Therefore the government should also honour the residents of the city. A good turn deserves another.

[Tekno Arkitect]

RDA to prepare new plan for Leh Expressway

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Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has directed Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to prepare a new work plan for Leh Expressway, sources in RDA told Online on Saturday. They said that MPs belonging to Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) held a meeting with the chef minister and termed the project vital for people of the city. The chief minister directed the concerned authorities to complete the project within five years at the cost of Rs 4 billion annually. Meanwhile, District Accounts Office (DAO), Rawalpindi has stopped payment of dues to government contractors and employees working in the district owing to current financial crisis. The contractors and employees while protesting over the decision demanded Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif withdraws the notice and ensures payment of dues to them without any further delay.

[KMMalik]

All the projects announced by CM Shahbaz Sharif like Elevated Express Way, couple of hospitals, Ring Road etc are on papers and nothing could be seen on gound, that is why most of the people call him Cheif Minister of Lahore. I like him but I wish the people of Rawalpindi could see some real progress on ground and on the roads.

[Tekno Arkitect]

CM seeks revised feasibility report on Leh Expressway

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* Road likely to be extended to High Court Building according to original plan

The Punjab government has again showed interest in commencing the mega project of Nullah Leh Expressway, as Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to submit the revised feasibility report on the expressway from High Court Building to Katarian Bridge, till 7 June.

RDA Director General Makeen Shahbaz told Daily Times that they had started work on redefining the project, which was approved by previous government to construct the Expressway from Ammar Chowk to Katarian Bridge, but now the road has been extended to High Court Building. The cost of the project will be also increased as the building material price has also increased manifold.

He said that construction of road on both banks of Nullah Leh from High Court building to Katarian Bridge was as per the actual master plan, conceived by the government when Shahbaz Sharif was the chief minister. The Punjab government wants to revive the original plan of the project, he said. “But presently the Punjab government has not enough funds to start the work on project immediately as closing of financial year is very near,” he said, adding, however it is very much possible that some amount may be allocated in next fiscal budget for the mega project.

It is pertinent to mention here that when ex-president Pervez Musharraf came into power, the Leh Expressway project, like many other development projects in the country, was shelved. But after sometime the former federal minister Sheikh Rashid tried to revive it, but this time it was decided to construct the expressway from Ammar Chowk to Katarian Bridge, reducing its total length. Musharraf inaugurated the Expressway project and announced to name it after Shiekh Rashid.

After general elections, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) soon after coming into power in the Punjab announced to abolish the project and start another project, the Elevated Expressway to be built over Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Road (Murree Road) from Flashman’s Hotel to Faizabad. The Punjab CM also inaugurated the project. Well-placed sources said the security reasons did not allow work on the project, which was abandoned in the planning phase.

The Punjab government has once again focused on the Leh Expressway as the PML-N legislators have asked the Punjab CM to review the project. As the result, RDA DG was asked to submit the revised plan.

[aliee]

where it reach now??? is it made or not?

[KMMalik]

This is the news published in newspapers on July10, 2010.

Leh Expressway project to start soon

RAWALPINDI: “RDA has already made a payment of Rs 681 million to Land Requisition Collector to obtain land for the project and after completion of land acquisition and approval of revised feasibility report, the PC-I of the project would be prepared” the project would take three to four years to complete.

According to revised plan the project would be extended from High Court Building to Katarian Bridge, which would certainly enhance the cost of the project from Rs 17 billion to somewhat up to Rs 25 billion.

Leh Expressway would be almost 17 km double road, which would be 30 feet wide each. The project would consist of three interchanges and five overhead bridges. Instead of starting from zero, the project would get started from Moti Mahal Chowk to Gowalmandi due to the reason that the area had no encroachments.

“RDA would ensure the quality of the road as per the international standards, as state-of-art machinery would be used in the roads construction and to concrete the banks of Leh. “The expressway has been designed to cater the needs of the city for 50 to 100 years,” the sources added.

[Tekno Arkitect]

Abandonment of Leh Expressway: LHC seeks explanation from RDA

AUG 2011

After the people, the judiciary now wants to know why Leh Expressway was abandoned.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday directed Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to file a written response in a petition filed for revival of Leh Expressway and Flood Channel Project that was initiated by the previous government and shelved by the current one.

Justice Saghir Ahmed Qadri of the LHC Rawalpindi bench issued notices to the RDA Director-General (DG) seeking written comments within two weeks in a petition asking for the resumption of the multi-billion project.

Earlier, Ali Jan Awais and four other men, through Advocate Asad Rajpoot, had filed a writ petition with the LHC asking the court to direct the Punjab government to resume the multi-billion project without any delay.

Citing DG RDA, project director of the expressway, chief secretary Punjab, chairman board of planning and development Punjab and the federal government as respondents, the five petitioners said the authorities should be directed not to give up the project worth Rs17.76 billion in the best interest of the people living on the banks of Leh.

Giving the details of the susceptibility of the urban population to floods, in the 45-kilometre-long Leh which passes through the city, the petitioners said climate change and increased rainfall in the twin cities had further enhanced the risks of flooding.

They said the project started in 2007 was given up by present government after 2008 general election but the idea was necessary to be implemented as it would not only help control the floods but also reduce the dumping of solid waste in the drain. The project will also ease the traffic issue in the area, they stated in their petition.

Citing the political interests as the only reason for the abandonment of the project, the petitioners said as many as 21 different ideas had been floated in the last many years to control the flooding in the Leh and having roads on both sides of the drainage canal had been considered the best solution. The Punjab government after ignoring the useful mega project is planning to focus on Rs72 billion project of Ring Road that showed the government had enough funds.

The petitioners further said the contractor FWO had filed a civil case against the RDA asking the court to direct the authorities not to back out of the contract as the contractor was ready to follow the project.

[KMMalik]

Chief Minister announced restarting of Lai Expressway.

[KMMalik]