ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to restart construction work of Margalla Town underpass, which was halted last month because its design was being improved.

A senior officer of CDA said that some changes have been made in design of the underpass to improve it and soon the civic agency will restart its construction work.

He made it clear that there will be no change in location of the underpass and work will be restarted.

He said that service road of Marglla Town will be dualised for proper utilisation of the underpass.

“We are not only going to restart the underpass, but service road will be dualised and expansion of Garden Avenue from 7th Avenue to Murree Road/Rawal Road flyover will also be carried out,” the officer said and added that this issue will also be taken up in the upcoming CDA-Development Working Party meeting.

CDA officer says some changes have been made to its design

The official said that the DWP meeting was slated to be held last Friday, however, it was postponed for a few days and it is expected that it will be held on Tuesday. Besides, the abovementioned service road, the source said that the DWP will also give approval to a mega project worth Rs10 billion for development of rural areas.

Last month, the multi-million Margalla Town underpass project saw abrupt closure when the civic agency identified technical flaws in its own approved design after launching work and spending millions of rupees on it.

The project was launched in year 2020 as part of Rawal Town interchange project, and so far millions of rupees have been spent on it.

The residents of Margalla Town had been expressing concerns over the civic agency’s decision to suspend construction work of the said project and had also written to the prime minister to intervene.

The underpass is part of the interchange and flyover project.

It should have been completed together with the interchange, but the CDA paid slight focus on it until the completion of interchange project.

The underpass project worth about Rs380 million was started in 2020 and considerable progress had been made on it last year. Sources said that around Rs100 million has already been spent on this project.

A resident of Margalla Town said that inhabitants of the area had serious reservations towards CDA for abruptly suspending development work. “We will request CDA to restart the development work within a few days and also take steps for early completion of this project in the greater public interest,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2023