RAWALPINDI: The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has one year to complete the construction work on the widening of the Soan River bridge near the Lahore High Court building (Rawalpindi bench) while the work on the remodelling of the bridge will start in a few days.

The army-owned construction company was awarded the project five months after the construction work on the bridge was suspended owing to multiple reasons, including poor quality of the construction work. The National Highway Authority (NHA) had attributed the poor work and construction material to the policy of awarding the lowest rate tenders to private contractors for public welfare projects. Now with the new contract, the construction costs have also been also revised.

A senior NHA official said the FWO would complete the widening of the bridge in one year’s time if monsoon rains remained normal next year and something unusual did not hamper the progress of the work.

He said with the completion of the widening of the bridge, thousands of vehicles would cross over the bridge daily and residents of the housing societies and other localities would be facilitated.

FWO tasked to complete under-construction bridge in one year

Meanwhile, the FWO has erected its camp office near the bridge and the construction work is likely to be started within the next few days.

“The new contract has been awarded to the Frontier Works Organisation,” said a senior official of the NHA and added: “The construction work on the Soan bridge will be completed within one year time.”

Soan bridge

Construction work on the bridge over the Soan River was started in 2017 and was scheduled to be finished by Jan 20, 2022. Due to delays in the project, senior NHA officials were summoned by higher authorities in Chaklala who expressed concern over the slow pace of work. Later, it was decided that a fresh contract would be awarded to the FWO so that the remaining work could be completed in time.

The bridge over the Soan River near the high court building is used by a large number of people, including goods transporters, who come to the city from other parts of the district via G.T. Road.

However, commuters and motorists often find themselves stranded on the bridge as traffic remains even more congested or moves at a snail’s pace due to the damaged road on the bridge.

Owing to the damaged road and construction material scattered on the bridge, motorists entering the city have been facing problems while the traffic police have been unable to manage the flow of traffic due to the poor condition of roads – especially during rush hours. It is common to see, a couple of traffic wardens standing by the side of the road near the bridge while busy with public transportation vehicles or chatting with each other.

Similarly, school and university students get late for their classes and ambulances are seen with blaring sirens to get the road cleared. The lawyers and their clients visiting the high court also remain stranded in traffic due to the congestion on the bridge.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2022