| Islamabad:Perennial gridlocks on bumpy PWD Road have become a nightmare for commuters who travel on these stretches on regular basis and bear physical and financial loss as well.
Despite the passage of more than eight months to the first deadline of June 2021, the work to expand the Islamabad Expressway is still underway and traffic snarls and potholes have turned the PWD Road into a living hell.
A number of private housing societies are located on either sides of the Islamabad Expressway. The much-awaited expansion of this road into a five-lane free corridor will ease the commute for hundreds of thousands of commuters who ply between Rawat and Islamabad.
This leg of the expansion is around 13 km long. Islamabad Expressway connects over a quarter million people living in Zone-V of Islamabad. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles commute on Islamabad Expressway on a daily basis from Rawat to Islamabad city and beyond. Being a major route, the signal free corridor linking Zero Point in Islamabad to Rawat on the Grand Trunk (GT) Road, will offer a wider course to traffic entering and exiting the city.
It was proposed that the housing societies construct interchanges at their own cost to connect their entrances to the Islamabad Expressway. The civic agency pursued a specific policy under which only government agencies/firms were allowed to bid for the project. Out of two bidders, the lowest one was awarded contract to construct four-lane road on both sides and construction of service road along PWD interchange. Out of four lanes the two lanes will be for heavy traffic and two flexible lanes will be for general vehicular traffic.
While giving a clarification an official has said “The CDA board allowed executing the project through a government contractor under 42(F) rules of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), which allows government-owned organisations for direct contracting with other state-owned entities.” He said “The work on this portion of the Islamabad Expressway was started some six months ago and we are going to complete it in stipulated time period. Apart from our efforts to accelerate the speed of work, we are also making efforts in coordination with the traffic police to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic.” |
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