RAWALPINDI: The metro bus project in the Islamabad section will be delayed for more than three months as work on Jinnah Avenue and 9th Avenue has been closed for more than a month due to political unrest in the capital.

A senior official of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) told Dawn that the Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif was informed in a meeting in Lahore on Tuesday that the project would not meet the deadline of January 2015 .

He said that the Punjab government planned to improve the pace of work after Eidul Azha so that work could be completed in the stipulated time frame. He said that the Punjab government had decided to request National Engineering Service Pakistan (NESPAK), the consultant on the project, to depute their officials in Rawalpindi to approve changes in design as per the requirement of the contract.

He said that the provincial government had spent Rs10.9 billion in Rawalpindi and Rs 8.45 billion on the Islamabad section so far.

The proposed metro bus route starts from The Mall near Flashman’s Hotel and ends at Pak Secretariat in Islamabad.

The RDA officiaal said that the work on the construction of bus stops in Rawalpindi had not started and added that more time was needed to construct bus depots and the Peshawar Mor intersections which were likely to take more than six months each.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed said that the work on metro bus project in Rawalpindi section is satisfactory however, the work on two packages in Islamabad section had stopped due to the sit-ins by political parties at the Constitution Avenue.

“We don’t think that the project will complete within the stipulated timeframe but the contractors had assured the RDA that they would speed up work after Eidul Azha,” he said.

The commissioner added that work on the underpass along parade lane could not start until the site was cleared of people. He said that the Peshawar Mor intersection also required more time as this was a very critical part of the project where an underpass was being constructed requiring the construction of pillars to support roads.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd , 2014