RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has transferred funds to the account of Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) for remodeling of Ammar Chowk.

Work on the project worth Rs788 million will likely start in February, Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told .

The remodeling includes a flyover and an underpass on Ammar Chowk on Airport Road.

He said the provincial government handed over the work to Chaklala Cantonment Board and transferred half of the amount to the civic body’s account.

He said that the remaining amount of the project would be released next fiscal year.

He said the Punjab government had set nine months time period for the construction of the flyover and underpass.

Replying to a question, he said work on the project could not be started immediately as days were shorter in winter but in February the daytime will relatively be longer so the month suits for the start of the construction.

He said there was a need to complete the work as soon as possible.

“This project will ease traffic in the city. After this, we will launch two other important projects to construct flyovers on Katchari Chowk and Defence Chowk,” he said.

The commissioner said that they would not start all the three projects at the same time as it would render the traffic on the main roads of the city out of gear and would create problems for the motorists.

“So we have decided to launch remodeling of Katchari Chowk and Defence Chowk on Jhelum Road in Front of Shifa Eye Hospital after the completion of the Ammar Chowk project,” he said.

RDA has prepared the PC-I ofAmmarChowkremodeling project worth Rs788 million on the directives of garrison authorities. Later, Chaklala Cantonment Board was appointed as executing authority of the project.

The project was conceived in 2013 but work on it could not be started due to Metro Bus Project. RDA revised the project cost from Rs634 million to Rs788 million in 2018.

The traffic on this section increased manifolds, making construction of the underpass more important.

The underpass will save time and fuel consumption of the motorists by 80pc as at present the motorists had to wait on the main squares 10 to 15 minutes.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020