RAWALPINDI: Work on widening the Soan River Bridge finally commenced earlier this week.

The project is anticipated to be completed by the end of Dec 2023.

The Soan River Bridge was two lanes wide on each side, but after work, it will have four lanes on each side.

According to an official from the National Highway Authority (NHA), widening of the bridge had been suspended in April 2022 after the contractor was black-listed and now a fresh contract had been awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The widening of the bridge across Soan River was started in 2017 and was scheduled to be completed by January 2022. However, the bridge will now be completed by the end of 2023.

Due to left-over construction material scattered on the bridge and its adjoining area, hundreds of commuters entering the city have been facing problems.

Motorists, while proceeding towards Rawalpindi from Rawat, face difficulty as safety walls of the bridge have been demolished by the previous contractor and left abandoned.

More than 62,000 vehicles cross Soan Bridge every day, where widening of the bridge began about five years ago and is yet to be completed.

The former chief of army staff had taken strict notice of the delay in the construction of Soan Bridge project and the poor workmanship and directed the authorities concerned to complete it without wasting time.

“I have never seen such sheer negligence in public welfare/important projects while living abroad,” said an expatriate who recently came to Pakistan to spend vacations with his family.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022