RCB starts work on Kumhar road

Rawalpindi: After a lapse of one year, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) on Wednesday started work on reconstruction of Kumhar Road in Gawalmandi at a cost of Rs 16.2 million.

Famous for pottery, the road also serves as a shortcut from Gawalmandi to Jinnah Road. It had collapsed last year when a construction company dug Leh Nullah for multi-billion Leh Expressway and damaged its embankment. As a result, the road has become part of nullah to a great extent. The collapse of the road has scared a number of area residents into shifting to safer places.

Sources in the RCB told Daily Times that the prime minister had provided Rs 16.2 million to local MNA Hanif Abbasi for reconstruction of Kumhar Road, as the RCB was facing shortage of funds.

They said the civic authority did not reconstruct the road, as according to Leh Expressway plan, it would be included in the expressway. They said when the new government shelved Leh Expressway project after wasting millions of rupees, the RCB pursued the local MNA to move the summary of the project to political leadership for release of extra funds for reconstruction of the road.

When contacted, a senior RCB official said that the RCB had started reconstruction of Kumhar Road and the work was likely to be completed by the end of March next year. He said labourers were working round the clock to complete the project within the stipulated time.

The road would be filled with sandbags and crushed stones in order to make a solid base, he said, adding that the RCB would construct a retaining wall along the bank of Nullah Leh to stop landslides. aamir yasin.