Communication and Works Department gets nine road projects in Rawalpindi
RAWALPINDI: The Communication and Works Department has been assigned nine road projects worth Rs1.6 billion by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) in the garrison city due to the civic body’s lack of capacity.
Funds worth Rs1.6 billion will be provided by the RMC, while the Communication and Works Department will construct the roads within the limits of the civic body.
The Divisional Development Working Party (DDWP) asked the Communication and Works Department to start the work as soon as possible and complete it by December 31.
A senior official of the district administration told Dawn that the nine roads included the rehabilitation of Khyaban-I-Sir Syed Road, 1.6 kilometres, at a cost of Rs213.466 million; Bokra Road, 1.5km, Rs226.454 million; rehabilitation of 5th Road, 1.74km, Rs138.525 million; Rawal Road from Ali Nawaz Chowk to Murree Road, 2km, Rs241.894 million; Chandani Chowk Commercial Market Road, 0.8km, Rs115.718 million; Railway Workshop Road, 1.2km, Rs247.871 million; China Market-Gordon College Road, 1km, Rs138.318 million; Satellite Town 4th B Road, 0.9km, Rs141.007 million; and rehabilitation of Band Khana Road, 2.4km, Rs214.417 million.
He said the divisional administration gave the assignment to the Communication and Works Department to rehabilitate the main roads of the garrison city as the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation lacked the capacity to carry out the work.
Apart from this, he said, three main road projects of the Rawalpindi Development Authority and District Council had also been handed over to the Communication and Works Department.
“Ch. Bostan Khan Road from Chaklala Scheme-III to Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench reconstruction project was also given to the Communication and Works Department, while Chakri Road and the road towards Falcon Chowk along Islamabad Expressway were also handed over to it,” he said.
He said the schemes had been submitted to the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) for approval and, after getting approval, the Communication and Works Department would also start work on these three roads.
He said funds would be provided by the civic bodies, but the rehabilitation work would be carried out by the Communication and Works Department. He said this exposed the poor performance of the civic bodies in road construction over the past few years.
He said the divisional administration had asked the Communication and Works Department to ensure the quality of construction material and complete the work within the stipulated timeframe by December 31.
He said the construction work carried out by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation on pedestrian streets in Raja Bazaar and road construction in 2024 had exposed its performance.
Despite spending millions of rupees, it failed to construct a proper drainage system along the roads, he added.
On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) failed to get approval for its road schemes, including the rehabilitation and improvement of Murree Road from The Mall to Faizabad, rehabilitation of Ch. Bostan Khan Road and a few others.
A senior RDA official told Dawn that for the last 10 years, the Kutcheri Chowk remodelling project had been included in the RDA’s annual development plan, but the Punjab government handed over the work to the Communication and Works Department.
“Instead of appointing the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board as the executing agency for the Rs8 billion project involving two underpasses at Race Course Park and Chairing Cross, the project was handed over to the Communication and Works Department,” he said.
He said the role of civic bodies in the garrison city was limited to removing encroachments, improving streetlights and approving building plans.