HYDERABAD, Nov 13: The district government had approved Rs130 million project for the construction of a new bridge parallel to the existing one on Phulelli Canal at Hala Naka to get rid of traffic deadlocks on the old bridge, said District Coordination Officer Aftab Ahmed Khatri on Tuesday.

Presiding over a meeting at his office Mr Khatri recommended to the National Highway Authority (NHA) either to construct an additional bridge on Phuleli Canal on Hyderabad Bypass or postpone work on the repair of the old bridge till the district government finished with its project for a new bridge on Phulelli Canal at Hala Naka.

He said that the city’s infrastructure was not in a position to cater to all the traffic coming from upcountry to the lower parts of the province.

The DCO endorsed the views of participants and recommendations of the committee and pointed out that the implementation of NHA’s proposal for using the old National Highway through Hala Naka, Pathan Colony, Rajputana Hospital to Hyderabad Bypass would create innumerable difficulties for the administration and public as well.

He informed the meeting that tenders for the project had been floated and work would be completed within a year. The construction activities and dumping of construction material on this site would make it impossible to have smooth traffic flow on the narrow bridges of Hala Naka.

Since the existing bridge on Phulelli Canal had been repaired more than once it had become imperative to construct a new bridge parallel to the existing one not only to meet future requirements but also to have an alternative passage in an emergency, he said.

If it was not possible then the NHA should postpone repair work on the existing bridge for a year or till the completion of the district government’s project for an additional bridge on Phulelli Canal, he said.

He asked the representatives of NHA to come up with workable proposals in the next meeting and said that the final decision would be taken by District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil after considering all the proposals.

The participants of the meeting proposed that repair work on the existing bridge should be designed in the shortest possible time and the proposal for laying a temporary bridge on boats along with Hyderabad Bypass bridge should also be considered as another option.

S.P. of Motorway police said that the NHA should adopt international standards for safety measures especially at the points of diversion route to avoid fatal accidents in case of decision about diversion of traffic.

NHA officers, Motorway police, SP of Hyderabad city Khawar Akbar Shaikh, coordinator of Hyderabad Development Package Faheem Junejo, EDO of revenue Syed Barkat Ahmed Rizvi, DO of works and services, TMOs of Hyderabad city and Qasimabad, representatives of traffic police and other officers concerned attended the meeting.