RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Planning Commission on Tuesday gave a green light to the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to start work on redesigning of Ammar Chowk at a cost of Rs720 million and complete the project by December end.

The project was conceived in 2013 by the RDA on the instruction of the then chief of army staff Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiani to ease traffic and avoid stoppage of vehicular movement on Airport Road during VIP movements.

The General Headquarters (GHQ) had also recommended construction of a flyover at the District Courts Square near Fatima Jinnah Women University.

The provincial government stopped work on the redesigning of Ammar Chowk in 2014 after it launched the Rs44.81 billion metro bus project. No plan was prepared to construct the flyover.

Initially, the government had approved Rs634 million for the Ammar Chowk project but its cost escalated and the RDA had to revise the PC-I.

Though the project was included in the annual development programme, funds were not released in the first six months of the current fiscal year.

A senior official of the RDA said they had sought funds for the project in the start of the fiscal year but the provincial government refused to release the amount due to the lack of funds.

He said the government had diverted most of the funds to the Orange Train project in Lahore. He said recently the government had asked the RDA to send it the revised PC-I.

The official said at a meeting in Lahore on Tuesday, the Planning Commission gave a green signal to the civic body to start the project within a month. He said 15 days were required to collect applications from contractors and another 15 days for the selection of a firm to be awarded a work order.

“Basically, the underpass will connect Airport Road with Chaklala Scheme-III main road and Chaklala garrison. The main square will be signal free,” he said.

When contacted, RDA Chief Engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari confirmed that the project had been approved by the Planning Commission.

He said the RDA had already completed the homework and applications would be sought from private firms in a day or two. He said work on the 90 feet long and 88 feet wide underpass would be started soon.

“There is a dire need to construct an underpass to make the roads signal free. Fuel consumption of motorists will be saved by 80pc as at present motorists have to wait at the main squares for 10 to 15 minutes,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2018