ISLAMABAD: City managers are planning to amend Islamabad’s master plan to accommodate the terminating portion of the proposed Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway (KRM) at T-Chowk on GT Road.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) board in its upcoming meeting either on Friday or Monday will discuss the matter as around two kilometres portion of Islamabad falls in the alignment of the road/interchange of the proposed motorway.

“We have been asked by the federal government to submit comments about the proposed amendment to the master plan to accommodate the proposed motorway. Yes, the board is going to take up this issue,” said a CDA board member, requesting not to be named.

The KRM is not part of Islamabad’s master plan and to give it a legal cover, the matter is going to be placed before the CDA board.

Sources said adding the motorway in Islamabad would require changes to the blueprint of the city and it required approval of the federal government.

We have been asked by govt to submit comments about the amendment to accommodate proposed motorway, says official

“If CDA board approves this amendment, the matter will be referred to the federal cabinet for final approval,” said a source.

He said there are chances that the CDA board after approving the amendment will refer it to federal cabinet for final approval.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) is the executing agency of the motorway and recently had referred the matter of terminating point on GT Road for approval of the federal cabinet.

However, prior to placing the matter before the cabinet, the CDA’s line ministry – the ministry of interior - sought comments and views of the CDA.

“When the project is already approved by Economic Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) and the federal government has been pursing it I don’t think CDA board will oppose it,” said an official of the CDA.

He said the NHA will construct an interchange at the terminating point and for this purpose the road authority will acquire land. A private housing scheme, Grace Valley, also falls in the proposed alignment of the interchange and NHA will have to pay to the society against its land.

On the other hand, an engineer of the CDA said after completion of the motorway Islamabad Expressway will face huge influx of traffic and CDA should keep this expected traffic load in mind. He said ideally the terminating point of the motorway should be the junction of Rawalpindi Ring Road.

Ecnec in 2022 had approved the motorway to be executed on Built Operate and Transfer basis under Public Private Partnership mode at a total cost of Rs108.41 billion.

The KRM will be an extension of the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway and under-construction Sialkot-Kharian Motorway. The project envisages construction of four lane access-controlled 117 kilometre-long motorway from Kharian to Rawalpindi. It traverses parallel to N-5, passing the populous areas of Jhelum, Mangla, Dina, Sohawa, Gujar Khan and Mandra, finally terminating at T-Chowk in Rawat.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2024