ISLAMABAD: Senior officials from Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Thursday visited the century-old graveyard near Shah Allahditta to discuss options for realignment of the proposed Margalla Road to save the graveyard.

The federal government has directed the civic agency to start the stalled project at the earliest.

Director Land Shafi Marwat, Director Urban Planning Ejaz Sheikh, Director Roads Rana Tariq and Deputy Commissioner CDA Gohar Wazir during the visit discussed options for realignment of the road at this particular portion.

An official of the CDA said the directors were of the opinion that the civic agency will have to use either left or right side of the graveyard for the realignment of the road. According to the director land, most of the land which will be used for realignment had already been acquired and in case of a need a small portion of the un-acquired land will also be acquired.

The official said a final decision was yet to be taken but the left side of the road seemed more appropriate as there was no population and only one seminary located on the acquired land which could be shifted.

Federal govt directs CDA to launch work on stalled Margalla Road project

On January 28, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting on the Ring Road and Margalla Road projects and got a briefing.

According to minutes of the meeting, “Keeping in mind the original alignment of Margalla Highway, part of Ring Road falling in Islamabad Capital Territory shall be acquired and developed by CDA from its own resources.

“This will be connected with Rawalpindi Ring Road leading to MI eventually. CDA will acquire right of way for the road in Zone-2 for development and beyond the right of way the area will be fenced to make it controlled access.”

It was also decided that “Eastward portion from MI falling in Punjab be constructed and fenced by the government of Punjab.”

The total length of the road is 33 kilometres from GT Road to Bhara Kahu, 24 feet on either side with 33 feet right of way. There would be 20 feet medians and 10 feet shoulders on both sides.

The tentative cost of the project was estimated to be Rs20 billion.

A CDA official said as per Islamabad’s master plan, Margalla Road will join Murree Road near Bhar Kahu. But he said the road should be linked with Murree Road at Satra Meel bypassing Bhara Kahu to ensure smooth flow of traffic, adding if the road was linked at Bhara Kahu it will be causing more congestion in the area.

However, the official said in the first phase the CDA was focusing the portion from GT Road to D-12 to link it with Khayaban-i-Iqbal. For seven years, there was a dispute with a previous contractor and recently it was resolved and the CDA now wants to start work on the 8.5km portion of the road.

The project was started in 2011 and supposed to be completed in 2013. However, due to various reasons, including falling of the graveyard in its alignment, the contactor abandoned the project and went into litigation.

According to the master plan of the city, the proposed Margalla Road passes by the foothills of Margalla Hills and ends at Bhara Kahu. While the road is yet to be constructed, people wrongly refer to Khayaban-i-Iqbal as Margalla Road.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2021