NULLAH Leh Expressway first envisaged in Pervez Musharraf regime in 2007 has unfortunately not moved ahead except for paperwork and meetings of bureaucrats who keep giving presentations to consecutive governments.
Prime Minister Imran Khan was given yet another briefing on this undoubtedly important project on Wednesday apprising as to how it will help resolve traffic problems and urban flooding. Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan also appeared to be optimistic when he stated the expressway project will resolve longstanding problems faced by the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and also boost economic activities. However, the question arises as to when the practical work will be started on it. Nullah Leh Expressway is the brainchild of Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid and since coming to power, statements have been made by him about start of work on it. A project which should have been started in the first year of PTI government is yet to enter into the construction phase. A good thing that has happened is that it has also been made part of multibillion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project and we expect the project will now be given green light and completed on a fast track basis. Leh Nullah has a length of about 30km, stretching from the Margalla hills in the federal capital at the north-western edge up to Soan River at the south-eastern edge in Rawalpindi district of Punjab. The project should be extended over the whole Nullah Leh that is from Katarian Bridge to Soan River near High Court and further connected to the 9th Avenue in order to really address the issues of traffic congestion and the monsoon flooding. As people have built houses on both sides of the Leh, they should be paid market rates for their properties so that they could buy or build their new abodes somewhere else. Attention must also be paid towards the recarpeting of rotten roads in the twin cities. The reconstruction and expansion of main arteries such as IJP Road and Islamabad Expressway is direly needed and the authorities concerned must come out of deep slumber and speed up work on them.
