ISLAMABAD: The civic agency launched another mega road project as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday performed the groundbreaking of the multi-billion dual carriageway in place of the service road of Islamabad Expressway.

The CDA will construct the nine-kilometre dual carriageway (three lanes each side) in place of the existing dilapidated service road. It will start from Faizabad and culminate at Gulberg Green stop. It is not yet clear what prompted the CDA to go for the three-lane dual carriageway in place of the service road of Islamabad Expressway, a major artery with four lanes on each side.

The right of way of the expressway is 1,200 feet. Though there is no official word yet, in the past CDA on several occasions discussed planning commercial projects in the right of way of the expressway.

“In the coming days, things will be clearer,” an official said.

Sources said earlier the CDA wanted to get the service road project executed after holding a competitive process among private contractors. In response to CDA’s advertisement, 11 private companies submitted their technical bids. However, later the CDA decided to get the project executed through government to government basis under 42(f) of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PAPRA).

Sources said there were chances FWO would execute this project. According to PC-I, the estimated cost of this project is Rs7.4 billion, however, when CDA would open G-to-G basis bids, the cost of the project could face an increase or decrease.

“After completing the process of G-to-G basis tendering, hopefully, work will be started after some days,” an official said.

He said that if things moved forward smoothly, at least six months will be required for completion of this project.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, the interior minister directed the CDA to get the project completed within 90 days.

Sources said that there are over 600 (structures/encroachments) in the alignment of the road while shifting of dozens of electricity poles is also a time consuming process.

The sources said that it was yet to be decided whether graves that fall in the alignment will be shifted to some other place or not.

“There is an old graveyard in Faizabad while some isolated graves are also built in the alignment of the road. I guess around 200 graves fall in the alignment of this road, which are likely to be shifted to other places,” they said. He said that from Wednesday (today) CDA will start the process of clearing the right of way from encroachments.

It is relevant to note here that the CDA has already spent billions of rupees on Expressway which has been fully overhauled and expanded from Faizabad to GT Road. The last portion of the road was expanded from Gulberg to GT Road last year. It was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in December along with inauguration of T-Chowk/Iqbal Flyover at the junction of GT Road and the Expressway.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026