RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Saturday started work on installing pillars for new bridge over Leh Nullah at Moti Mehal on Murree Road and the road from Marrir Chowk to Liaquat Bagh will remain closed from Monday.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed directed the traffic police to devise a comprehensive traffic diversion plan in this regard and submit a plan to him on Sunday morning.

According to the plan, Rs250 million will be spent on reconstruction of the bridge. The height of the bridge will be same but the width will be increased to 100 feet from its present width of 48.

“No separate funds had been allocated for the reconstruction of the bridge as it is part of Rs44.21 billion worth of Metro Bus Project,” Commissioner Zahid Saeed told Dawn.

He said initially, one side of the bridge would be closed and the traffic would be diverted to the other side. He said the road would be closed completely when the contractor started the work to install pillar for the elevated road for metro bus.

The contractor Zahid Khan and Brothers (ZKB) of metro Bus Project from Saddar to Committee Chowk had to start the work on reconstruction of bridge over Leh Nullah in May but the work delayed due to non-availability of heavy machinery to dig the foundation for the pillars.

To a question, Commissioner Zahid Saeed said that monsoon would not affect the work of reconstruction of bridge as the foundations of the pillers would have been installed before the start of heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the meeting of all the contractors of eight packages of metro bus project was held at commissioner’s office with Commissioner Zahid Saeed in the chair.

During the meeting, it was informed that the pace of work on all the packages was better but there was a dire need to speed up the work on Peshawar Mor Intersection.

The contractor –National Logistic Cell (NLC)- wanted to close the road from Industrial Area I-9 to G-9/3 and G-9/4 for the construction of pillars of the intersection. The representatives demanded the road be closed from Monday otherwise it would not be possible to start the work.

After the meeting, Commissioner Zahid Saeed told Dawn that the contractor’s demand was based on logic as the heavy machinery to drill the earth cannot work in traffic.

“We asked Islamabad Traffic police to divert the traffic and close the road from Monday,” he said.

He said that traffic for Motorway and towards Golra on Kashmir Highway would be diverted to Karachi Company via double road in front of Fatima Jinnah Park and F-10.

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2014