ISLAMABAD: Residents of one of the most populated sectors of Islamabad have been suffering due to the closure of a road for over three weeks.

The Service Road North of I-10, on which a dry port, hundreds of factories and Margalla Railway Station are located, has been closed due to the construction of an overhead bridge on 10thAvenue.

Maqbool Ahmed, a resident, said the road connecting I-10 with 9thAvenue and industrial units of I-9 with the Faqir Aipee Road always remained busy.

“I still remember that when Amer Ali Ahmed was the CDA chairman and I-8 interchange was being constructed, he had announced that the Expressway will not be closed for a single day during daytimes. As an overhead bridge was being constructed on the Expressway, the road was closed for a few hours only at nights and the residents of the capital never felt an incontinence,” he said.

However at I-10, they have now made an unmetalled road to bypass the bridge creating lots of hardship for the commuters, he said.

Another resident Asim Khan said people were being forced to travel on an unmetalled road due to which they have been suffering from dust allergy.

“My son has an allergy. I travel on the road along with him and then have to take him to a doctor,” he said.

Mohammad Bilal, another resident of the sector, said the unmetalled road was also damaging their vehicles.

“I just could not understand why CDA did not construct a concrete road to bypass the bridge,” he said.

When contracted, an official of the CDA said the authority will look into it.

“The interior minister Mohsin Naqvi and Chairman CDA Mohammad Ali Randhawa are very sensitive over such issues and I am sure they will take appropriate action,” he assured.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2025