RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has planned a new feasibility study for the Leh Nullah project for Rs43 million, besides sending a summary to the Punjab cabinet to rename the project from `Leh Nullah Expressway and Trunk Sewer` to `Leh Nullah project`.

According to a senior official of the RDA, there is a dire need for a new feasibility study, and the Punjab Planning and DevelopmentBoardhasapproved Rs43 million in this regard.

He said initially the project was supposed to be constructedon a public-private partnership (PPP) model, from Kattarian Bridge (IJP Road) to the high court building (N-5). A transaction advisory consultant `NESPAK-KPMG-Axis Law` was hired on December 07, 2019, for the project proposal.

`The project eventually emerged as a non-viable project on the basis of the PPP mode owing to insufficient revenue generation in compensation with the high capital cost. And in 2023, the nature of the project changed from the PPP mode to the government-funded...,` he added.

According to the official, the gov-ernment has decided to conduct a new feasibility study from the Kattarain Bridge to Jhelum Road. According to the official, Leh Nullah has a length of 17km from Kattarian to Jhelum Road: 8km falls in the jurisdiction of the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards and 9km in Rawalpindi city.

He said that every year, floods in Leh Nullah during the monsoon season created problems for the local administration and the residents, adding that the Punjab government wanted to solve the issue to avert flooding. He said that the government wanted to dopractical work to stop future floods in the city and a trunk sewer from Moti Mehal to Gorakhpur was the solution.

`We will hire a consultant to make a new plan soon and in this regard, the services of a government agency will be hired...and the work will be done on a government-to-government basis. The plan will be made as soon as possible so the work willbe started in the next fiscal year on a priority basis,` said the RDA official. He said roads would be constructed on both sides of the nullah while the focus would be on mitigating the impacts of floods.The RDA spokesman told Dawn that the development agency was working on the project on the directives of the Punjab government and in this regard, it would start work on a new feasibility study after the approval of the cabinet to rename the project.

The Leh Nullah project worth Rs20billionwasinitiallylaunched in 2007 on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis by the federal and Punjab governments, but it remained stalled in the initial stages due to a lack of funds, and in 2010, it was shut down by the PML-N government. Aamir Yasin