ISLAMABAD: The federal government is planning to name one of the newly-constructed underpasses of Serena Interchange after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

CDA wants to get the interchange inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday (tomorrow).

Sources in the government said the Prime Minister Office had directed CDA to name one of the underpasses after the Turkish president.

“Yes, recently PM directed CDA to name one underpass after the Turkish president,” said a source in the government.

Meanwhile, CDA has almost completed the project worth Rs4.2 billion which included three underpasses with loops - one on Khayaban-i-Suhrawardi and two on Srinagar Highway. Horticulture and electrical works have also been completed.

Sources said on part of the CDA there was no delay on inauguration of the project on Feb 4.

“The inauguration nameplate has also been prepared for February 4; now it depends on availability of the prime minister,” an official in the CDA said.

The project, according to its PC-I, was supposed to be completed in four months; however, the prime minister had given 60 days target to the CDA for its completion, which lapsed on January 5. Now, after a month, the project is ready.

Sources in the CDA said after completion of the multibillion project the issue of traffic congestion would be resolved at this junction.

However, they added that without construction of an underpass on Murree Road to link it with Srinagar Highway, one of the underpasses on Srinagar Highway (on the left side road moving towards Zero Point) would be useless for thousands of vehicles coming from Azad Kashmir and Murree.

In the absence of any direct link, traffic from Murree Road goes to Kashmir Chowk also known as Dhokri Chowk to take a turn from the roundabout.

When contacted, CDA’s member engineering Syed Nafasat Raza said that the project, which was designed to be completed in four months, was “going to be completed in record 84 days”.

Asked about the 60-day deadline, he said: “As per PC-I we were supposed to complete this project in 120 days, but we completed it in 84 days. As far as direction of PM and the interior minister for completion of the project in 60 days is concerned, we tried our best and due to two unavoidable hurdles - a hard rock and underground water - we faced some delay. Secondly, we had to increase the scope of the work as well.”

“As far as naming one of the underpasses after Turkish president is concerned, I am not privy to this development. As per my knowledge, we will name this project as Jinnah Square,” he claimed.

When asked about Murree Road underpass project, he said its design was being finalised and soon CDA will call a separate tender to start construction of the underpass to link Murree Road with Srinagar Highway.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2025