Zubair Qureshi
The Capital Development Authority has claimed to achieve major progress with regard to widening of Expressway from Korang Bridge to PWD interchange and according to the authority the work will be completed before the stipulated time.
The CDA in January this year had awarded the contract of 2-kilometer road and Railway Bridge worth Rs2.3 billion to Frontier Worker Organization .
The project, according to its PC-I, is supposed to be completed in 15 months.
However, CDA officials said that the work will be completed before the stipulated time as it is in progress at full pace.
The work on widening of the road is in progress at full pace, says CDA’s spokesperson.
“Moreover, work has also commenced on service roads leading to recently completed PWD interchange. Moreover, work on Railway Bridge and widening of road is also in progress,” read a statement issued by CDA.
Meanwhile, according to a senior official, CDA had also engaged the services of FWO for carrying out the remainder work on Korang Bridge and this project would be completed in next few months as 50pc work has already been completed by the previous contractor. The CDA has removed the previous contractor for missing the deadline. The previous contractor stopped work on the project a couple of months ago on the grounds that the price of construction material had increased. However, the CDA has now engaged FWO for this project too. The Islamabad Expressway is one of the busiest roads, which has been facing traffic congestion due to massive traffic load on this road. During the working hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. travelling on the road is an ordeal.
Though the four-lane double road is signal free yet the overwhelming number of vehicles makes it almost impossible to travel on the road peacefully.
Meanwhile, the project of widening and overhauling the dilapidated service road of Expressway from Faizabad to Koral is yet to be started. However, CDA’s spokesperson said that after completing ongoing projects on Expressway, the CDA will fully focus on the service road.
The road has been widened from Faizabad to Koral over the years and now it is being widened up to the PWD underpass. The CDA officials said that for widening from PWD to Grand Trunk Road Rawat, the CDA has already requested the federal government for funding PSDP.
