ISLAMABAD: After missing several deadlines, the Islamabad Expressway expansion project is well on the course of completion and is likely to be inaugurated later this month.

“The structure work has been completed up to G.T. Road, with lane marking and minor ancillary work being carried out,” a CDA official said, adding that the project could be inaugurated this month.

The CDA had awarded a contract worth Rs10.9 billion to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for the rehabilitation and expansion of the seven-kilometre portion of Islamabad Expressway, from PWD Interchange to G.T. Road in Rawat on September 2022. As per PC-I, the project was supposed to be completed by March this year, but it missed the deadline.

The road had only two lanes on each side and after the PWD, bottlenecks disrupted traffic on a daily basis. Now, according to the CDA, two more lanes had been added upto G.T. Road, Bindar bridge and Japan underpass constructed and Sohan Interchange has been expanded.

After missing two deadlines, CDA Chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa had asked the department concerned to wrap up the project by Aug 14. The contractor was then asked to complete work by Sept 30.

CDA officials told Dawn that the project faced delay due to sluggish pace of work, but significant progress had been made over the past few months and now, the project was going to be completed.

Islamabad Expressway is one of the main roads in the federal capital and caters to both light and heavy traffic, particularly between Islamabad and Lahore.

“Lane marking and fixing of some curb stones at various bus stops was the only work pending,” a CDA official said.

Sources in the civic authority said the project would be completed anytime soon, however, some additional work was likely to be carried out by the CDA, which was not part of the said project, to properly link the expressway with G.T. Road.

“As per the existing project, you can say we have done our job,” an officer of the CDA said.

He said the civic body had widened the road upto G.T. Road which fell in its jurisdiction and beyond that, the land belonged to National Highway Authority, which had planned an interchange for Kharian-Rawalapindi Motorway.

In order to link the proposed interchange, the CDA may go for construction of loops/slip roads in that area, he added.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2024