Rawalpindi:Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Salman Ghani has taken serious notice of repeated road cutting and excavation under the guise of development work and banned any such activity without prior No Objection Certificate (NOC).
He issued the directives yesterday while chairing a meeting at the Commissioner’s Office on road-cutting permissions, underground service lines, ongoing projects and inter-departmental coordination. Officials from Highways, RDA, WASA, SNGPL, IESCO, PTCL, Nayatel, Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, District Council and other departments attended.
The Commissioner said repeated cutting of urban roads causes public inconvenience, traffic congestion and wastage of government resources. He directed that all departments and service providers seeking road cutting for installation, repair or relocation of utilities must coordinate through an integrated system and share future plans and details of underground lines to avoid repeated excavation of newly built roads.
He emphasized that road cutting should be a last resort. Wherever possible, modern techniques such as thrust boring and ducting must be used to minimize damage to road surfaces.If cutting is unavoidable, the department concerned must restore the road to its original standard within 15 days. Backfilling and reconstruction timelines must be finalized before work begins, he ordered.
Ghani further directed that no newly constructed or rehabilitated road should be cut for service lines. Pending applications from utility providers must be cleared within three days. Utility shifting requirements should be incorporated at the planning stage of all major projects through a joint departmental meeting.He also announced monthly meetings on road cutting and utility coordination to review pending matters, ongoing works and future projects.
