Catalyzing Climate and Disaster Resilience: Processes for Identifying

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Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the then Minister for Railways and a long time resident and
politician of the city, publicly claimed that the Lai Expressway Project was a result of
his efforts. In the public gathering on 27 March in Rawalpindi, he said that the
Expressway was his dream that had been materialized by the President (Dawn, 2007b).
This was confirmed by one of the officials of the RDA (implementing agency of the
project) that he floated the idea during 2002-2004 to the President for his consideration.
In 2007, he began to mobilize his election campaign around this mega project. On 27
March 2007, a big public gathering was organized in Liaquat Bagh, where the President
made the announcement and inaugurated the project claiming that the Lai Expressway
will change the face of the city (Dawn, 2007b). At the time, the project had not been
approved by the Planning Commission. The President also announced that people
relocated by the project should be given a better deal than their present housing,
which was also endorsed through the directive issued by the then Prime Minister the
same month. The President also announced an elevated expressway on Murree Road,
widening of Airport Road, a Rawalpindi bypass from Rawat, and in recognition of
the efforts of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Lai Expressway was renamed as the Sheikh
Rashid Expressway.
Comparing Urban Flood Mitigation Options: Costs and Benefits
in Rawalpindi, Pakistan
On the other hand, the Government of the Punjab, which was sharing 50% of the cost
of the project, did not seem to be in favor of this project because of its high cost,
estimated at PKR 16 billion at that time. There were numerous smaller or mediumscale
development projects that could be launched in different districts to mobilize
voters for the upcoming election across the province, rather than investing so much
money in one city. The dispute over costs and cost-sharing were also reflected in the
minutes of the proceedings of the first Steering Committee meeting held on 15 May
2007, where the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission emphasized that the
Government of Punjab should own the project and release the required amount at
the earliest possible date. The Federal Government made a commitment to allocate
200 million in Public Sector Development Programme, 2007-2008 and the
Government of Punjab was asked to make equivalent allocation in the Annual
Development Programme, 2007-2008.
Given the personal interest of the President, the project processing and preparatory
studies were completed in record time. The feasibility study was carried out in 15
days by National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK), while approval from
ECNEC (the highest body to approve the project above PKR 500 million) came
immediately. The Expressway was declared a special scheme and the governmentowned
NESPAK was entrusted with the tasks of design and research, while the Frontier
Works Organization (FWO, a subsidiary of Pakistan Army) was named the executing
organization. The Rawalpindi Development Authority was supposed to act as
coordinating agency. Contracts were awarded to NESPAK and FWO without
competitive bidding, which is required for any development project. Additionally,
the unit rates quoted by FWO for the project were higher by 25% compared to the
standard approved unit rates by the Government of Punjab. According to the contract
submitted to and approved by the Punjab Government, FWO was supposed to design,
execute and commission the project within a stipulated period of two years’
turnaround time.