ISLAMABAD: The design for an elevated flyover in Bhara Kahu will be completed this March while the design for the Tarnol flyover will be completed in June, according to documents belonging to the National Highway Authority (NHA).

A consultant will be hired this week for the project to construct a four-lane elevated flyover in Bhara Kahu, and its design will be completed in March, the documents say.

Sources said these two projects are being pushed by Planning Minister Asad Umar and MNA Ali Nawaz Awan. Both projects will be executed by the NHA.

The documents say that the procurement of a construction firm for the Bhara Kahu flyover will be finalised in September. However, sources said that Mr Umar and Mr Awan have expressed concern regarding the six month timeline the NHA has demanded between finalising the design and procuring firms.

They said that the project should begin as soon as possible once the design is completed, as traffic gridlocks have become routine in Bhara Kahu. A flyover will ease growing traffic congestion on Murree Road in Bhara Kahu, they said, which faces a lot of traffic especially on weekends when tourists head towards Murree.

“The project is the need of the hour not only for Islamabad residents but also for people from Murree and Kashmir. Tourists moving towards Murree face frequent traffic congestion,” Mr Awan said.

He told Dawn that he and Mr Umar want the project to begin in this fiscal year.

“After the design is completed in March, there is no need for six months to procure a construction firm. This work should be started at the earliest,” he said.

However, NHA documents say that a firm will be awarded contracts in September and construction will begin in October and be completed by September 2022.

The government has allocated Rs500 million in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the ongoing fiscal year for this project, which has a total cost of Rs3 billion.

NHA documents also say that the authority plans to expand the Tarnol-Fatehjang section of the N-80 highway into a dual carriageway, including the interchange at the Tarnol Railway Crossing.

The authority plans to expand the road in three phases. The first phase will be constructing the Tarnol flyover, after which the road will be expanded.

Once the design is completed in June, the documents say, the procurement of a construction firm will be carried out in December and work will begin on Jan 1, 2021. Mr Awan said the NHA is being asked to start the project soon.

Contract for three pedestrian bridges

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Wednesday awarded a contract to design, engineer, manufacture, supply, erect and install three overhead pedestrian truss bridges on three major roads in the capital.

In a letter dated Jan 7, the CDA gave a letter of acceptance of bid to the Heavy Mechanical Complex Taxila for the bridges, which will be installed near the H-9 weekly market on Kashmir Highway, on Jinnah Avenue near the G-9 gate to Fatima Jinnah Park and on Faisal Avenue between G-7/2 and the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. The project is worth Rs134m.

Mr Nawaz, who is also the special assistant to the prime minister on CDA affairs, told Dawn that several other development projects are lined up and will be started soon.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2020