ISLAMABAD: The project for widening Islamabad Expressway, which was inaugurated by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in July 2015, is facing an inordinate delay as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is yet to move beyond Koral Interchange.

According to the original PC-1, the highway was to be widened to five lanes from Zero Point to the GT Road in Rawat, linking it with the Motorway II in two years.

However, the CDA could not make the 24-kilometre highway a signal-free corridor within the stipulated time.

The CDA management in 2015 decided to execute the project in three phases due to financial constraints.

Two years after launching project, CDA is yet to start work on portion of Islamabad Expressway from Koral to Rawat

The first phase, which included widening of the four-kilometre section from Zero Point to Faizabad, was completed after several post-bid changes. An inquiry is still underway into the changes.

The second phase from Faizabad to Koral Interchange is still not complete. The highway has been widened but work is still continuing on two interchanges at Sohan and Khana.

Sources said December 15 had been set as the deadline for the completion of the two interchanges at a cost of Rs2 billion but the civic agency failed to meet the deadline.

Now the deadline has been extended to January 20.

However, the sources said Khana Interchange would not be completed even within the new deadline as a large number of electricity poles were still an impediment to the work.

When contacted, Member Engineering Shahid Sohail, who resumed his office after facing a one-year suspension, said he was making all-out efforts for the early completion of the project.

Mr Sohail was removed by the Prime Minister Office for faulty streetlights on the expressway. But after a year, the case was decided in his favour when he along two other suspended officers contended that rules under which they were suspended did not apply on them.

The member said Sohan Interchange would be inaugurated within two weeks while the interchange at Khana would be opened by March 23.

The civic agency has now decided that the remaining work from Koral Interchange to G.T. Road would also be completed in two phases, the official said.

He said in the first phase, the highway would be widened to five lanes from Koral to the Naval Anchorage along with the construction of service roads and three bridges - Korang, Railways and Bhandar.

“We have completed the file work for the construction of this portion of the highway which will cost about Rs5.2 billion,” he said.

“After completing this phase, we will move towards the last phase from Naval Anchorage to the GT Road,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018