Many mega projects in Pakistan have often exceeded their initial costs due to the fact that the fundamentals of project management are ignored during project planning, said the ICCI Acting President.
RAWALPINDI:
Despite repeated announcements throughout the year, the Rawalpindi District Council, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, Rawalpindi Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and District Development Committee have failed to launch 13 development projects in Rawalpindi city, cantonment and rural areas in 2025.
All these megaprojects have now been moved to the 2026 development list.
Throughout the year, the heads of these institutions continued to proclaim and feed the media about the imminent launch of these projects, but they have now disappeared from the scene.
Stalled projects include Leh Expressway, Mother and Child Hospital, Ghazi Brotha Water Project, Daducha Dam Project, Chahan Dam Water Supply System, Ring Road completion, five commercial parking lots, restoration of 120-year-old Sajjan Singh Building, rainwater storage projects, city-wide sewerage system including sewer tunnel and sewage recycling project and rehabilitation dilapidated public school buildings that have remained in disrepair for over 20 years.
Meanwhile, the Miyawaki forestry project to control environmental pollution and a poultry breeding program that had been operating profitably for four years were completely abandoned.
The estimated cost of the Leh Expressway was initially Rs 17 billion, but it has now shot up to Rs 70 billion.
The cost of the sewerage tunnel project increased from Rs30 billion to Rs50 billion. The Ghazi Brotha Water project, initially estimated at Rs19 billion, has exceeded Rs100 billion, making it definitively unviable. The Daducha Dam project cost increased from Rs6 billion to Rs15 billion, while rainwater storage projects increased from Rs100 million to Rs500 million.
The mother and child hospital consumed Rs 10 billion as the building, air conditioning and all construction works were completed, while machines worth Rs 1.5 billion remained pending. After the change of regime, the project was abandoned and the costs of renovating the machines now amount to 4 billion rupees.
The cost of restoring the historic Sajjan Singh building has increased from Rs5 million to Rs20 million.
The 38-kilometer ring road was supposed to be completed by December 31, 2025, but was halted due to lack of funds. Its new deadline is March 31, 2026, with a sharp increase in the estimated cost. Due to these delays, residents of Rawalpindi continue to face severe water shortages and daily traffic jams. This year, no development funds have been allocated to the Rawalpindi district council, RDA, WASA or the municipal corporation.
As a result, 2025 turned out to be an extremely disappointing year for Rawalpindi in terms of development.
District Development Coordination Committee Chairman and MP Engineer Qamarul Islam said that for the first time, a people-friendly development government had come to power in Punjab.
He asserted that all these projects would be launched in the new year, adding that the next fiscal budget would be entirely development focused.
