RAWALPINDI: The federal government has decided to change the Leh Nullah`s route in order to avoid floods in the low-lying areas of Rawalpindi and it will not pass through the thickly populated residential areas of the city. Sewage from Islamabad will also no longer be discharged in the nullah and it will instead be discharged into another nullah which flows into the Soan River.

The provincial government was told that the federal government will give it Rs16 billion for the project, which will be released in three instalments of Rs5 billion over three years.

The federal government has asked the Punjab government to draw up a plan for the re-routing of the Leh Nullah and to submit a Project Concept-1 for the project as soon as possible.

The 23-kilometre long Leh Nullahpasses from New Kattarian to the Soan River through densely populated residential areas of the Rawalpindi City. All the nullahs of Islamabad also discharge in the Leh Nullah near I.J Principal Road.

The Leh Nullah witnessed its worst flood on July 23, 2001 when 620 millimetres of rain claimed 35 lives and many slums were swept away, causing financial losses of millions of rupees.

Every year, the Punjab government spends more than Rs25 million on the dredging of the drain before monsoon to avoid floods but many low laying areas get inundated with flood water anyways.

In 2006, the Pervez Musharraf led government approved Leh Nullah Expressway project for constructing an expressway from Moti Mahal to 9th Avenue, a flood channel and a sewerage treatment plant worth Rs20 million.

The Frontier Works Organisation had started work on the project which was stopped by the PML-N Punjab government in 2008 because the project was named the Sheikh Rashid Expressway and Flood Channel Project.

The then provincial government had promised to re-start the project and now,nine years later, the PML-N government has come up with the new plan of relocating the Leh Nullah.

A senior official of the district administration told Dawn the federal government had earmarked Rs57 billion for the national flood plan and will release Rs16 billion for the Leh Nullah flood channel to make the low lying areas of Rawalpindi safe from floods during heavy rains.

He said an umbrella project has been already formed and the Federal Flood Commission has asked the Inter Provincial Coordination Committee to make a plan.

He said the basic plan had been made but the PC-l is yet to be made.

He said a meeting was held at the Commissioner Office with the Punjab minister for planning and development and chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Flood Malik Nadeem Kamran in the chair via video link a day before Eidul Azha.

He said the minister had asked the Punjab irrigation department to make the PC-1 but the department secretary had said the irrigation department was working on canals in the rural areas and the Punjab Housing and Public HealthEngineering department will make a better planfor the urban areas.

`The Punjab government has two options, the first is to bring the sewerage from Islamabad from I.J Principal Road to the Soan River outside the city areas and the second is to improve the route of the nullah,` he said.

The official explained that land will have to be acquired for both plans, increasing the cost of the project.

`The route of the nullah now will become a dumping point if all the sewerage is discharged at an alternate route.

The question then is, what about the utility of the land the nullah now occupies, he asked.

He said the Punjab government had asked concerned departments to make a plan after visiting various sites and consulting with experts and to submit a report in two to three weeks.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Talat Mehmood Gondal told Dawn details of the project will be shared with the district administration and civic bodies when the PC-1 is made. He also confirmed that the federal government will be releasing Rs16 billion for the project.