RAWAL ROAD REVAMP PROJECT

RDA gets Rs320m for 4-kilometre road

Rawalpindi

There seems to be mass irregularity in funds by the concerned authority in the project of revamping Rawal Road which is under progress for the last three months.

Against an amount of Rs40 million, which could have been enough to complete the project of re-carpeting and rehabilitation of Rawal Road, which only accounts to 4 kilometres in distance, the Punjab government on the demand of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) allocated Rs 440 million for the scheme.

However, credible sources told this correspondent that the condition of Rawal Road was better and there was no need to revamp it. However, in order to plunder money, the RDA dug the road and initiated rehabilitation work at a huge cost. The total length of road to be carpeted is just 4 kilometres for which the amount of Rs440 million had been approved is huge. According to sources, the 4 kilometres could be revamped at a cost of only Rs40 million which is sufficient.

However, RDA Director Engineering Muhammad Akram Soban when approached in this regard gave a different picture. He said that initially an estimate of Rs440 million was prepared for doing work on revamping of Rawal Road, however , when the project was tendered one of the contractor presented 13 per cent less estimates to complete this task. Therefore, the Punjab government allocated an amount of Rs320 million for work on this project.

He did not agree that the condition of Rawal Road was better and the authority did not did up deliberately to mint money. Soban said that the normal life of any road is around 10 years. “While the Rawal Road was constructed from Chandni Chowk to IJ Principal Road in the year 2000. The road had not only developed patches but was broken on different points from Chandni Chowk to IJ Principal Road as a result of which its condition worsened.

Prior to initiating work on any project, firstly survey is conducted than a feasibility study is submitted with the provincial government with the purpose of reviewing and approving funds for the same. No wrong doing or irregularity is done on the project and the work is underway which would be over by January 31, 2017, he claimed.

Akram Soban also clarified that the cost of material to be utilised in construction, carpeting and revamping of roads is too high particularly Bitumen. After the expiry of life period if revamping work on road is not done then it becomes bumpy, causing hardships for motorists to ply their vehicles, the director observed.