ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has hired the services of a consultant firm for designing and supervising the construction of Zero Point Flyover, a source in the authority told Dawn on Wednesday.

He said the project would be completed within one year at an estimated cost of Rs400 million. The firm - AAA - which filed the lowest bid would first prepare a design of the flyover and then supervise the construction work. The contract of the project would be awarded later, the source said.

The construction of the flyover has been one of the long- awaited projects in the capital and it is being commissioned on the directives of Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao. The minister has directed the CDA to complete the design and technical details of the project.

Meanwhile, an official of the CDA told Dawn that following the refusal of the government to allocate funds for the project under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2004-2005, the CDA high-ups had thought that the project should be executed by the CDA resources.

The official said the PC-I of the project had been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and it had to be approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec).

"But now as the project is being executed from CDA's own resources; therefore, there is no need to get approval from these bodies," he added. About availability of funds, the official said a meeting had been told that the authority was in a position to complete the project from its own resources.