ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will construct an overhead bridge at Golra Mor, to make the new Islamabad airport more accessible from Kashmir Highway.

The Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), in a written response to a question posed in the National Assembly, revealed that CDA has decided to construct a Grade Separation Facility at Golra Mor.

In response to the question from MNA Nazir Ahmed Bughio, CADD said the tentative cost of the project is Rs316.5 million.

The project will commence subject to approval of the revised alignment of the third section of Kashmir Highway – from Golra Mor to GT Road, the reply said.

The project will be completed within nine months from the date of commencement subject to the allocation of Public Sector Development Programme funds. Sources within the authority said an overhead bridge will also be built on Kashmir Highway, to give motorists access to the highway to H-16, where the district jail will be built.

The new Islamabad airport, meanwhile, will be completed by the end of this year. In August 2015, Civil Aviation secretary Mohammad Ali Gardezi had assured the National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat that the new airport would be ready by October 2016.

However, he said he was not certain if the construction of the access road to the airport would be completed by that time.

The new airport project was conceived in 1984, and the purchase of land near Fatehjang began the same year. Land was bought for Rs30,000 to Rs500,000 per kanal with an average rate of Rs70,000 per kanal. In 2005, then prime minister Shaukat Aziz laid the foundation of the airport.

Construction began without the approval of any design, and the contract was awarded to 17 contractors.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2016