ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved Rs10.7 billion in funding for the remaining two packages for the signal free corridor project from Zero Point to the G.T. Road in Rawat.
The prime minister approved the funding in response to a March Capital Development Authority (CDA) summary for the expressway project, which will be released to the CDA in instalments over the next two years.
A letter issued by the Prime Minister’s Office and available with Dawn, which reached the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) the other day, stated that the prime minister has directed the Ministry of Finance to release a token Rs1bn in the ongoing financial year as a supplementary development grant to allow the CDA to initiate work immediately.
He also directed that Rs7bn be allocated for the project in the 2018-19 Public Sector Development Project (PSDP), while Rs2.75bn will be allocated in the 2019-20 PSDP.
The Islamabad Expressway, which has been widened from Zero Point to Koral will be expanded from Koral to the G.T. Road in two packages.
The first package will consist of expanding the road from the Koral interchange to Naval Anchorage – a five kilometre stretch – while the second package will cover the 7km distance from Naval Anchorage to the G.T. Road.
The prime minister has directed the CDA to complete the first package by June 2019 and the second by Sept 30, 2019. In his letter, he directed the CDA to prepare a detailed traffic plan, particularly to manage heavy traffic.
“Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, Finance Division and CDA shall take further action accordingly for implementations of prime minister orders,” the letter, which was addressed to CADD, the CDA and the ministries of finance and planning, said.
Last month, the CDA had asked the prime minister for Rs10bn in special funding for the expansion of the Islamabad Expressway up to the G.T. Road.
The project to widen the expressway was inaugurated by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in July 2015. Under the original PC-I, the expressway was to be widened to five lanes from Zero Point to the G.T. Road in Rawat, linking in to Motorway II, within two years, in order to make a signal-free corridor.
The CDA in 2015 changed the PC-I and decided to execute the project in phases due to financial constraints. The first phase consisted of widening 4km of the expressway from Zero Point to Faizabad. Then, in the second phase, the road was widened up to Koral Chowk.
The CDA will expand the existing four lanes from Koral interchange to Naval Anchorage to eight, by adding two rigid lanes and rehabilitating flexible lanes. Three bridges – at Korang, Bhinder and the Railways stop – will also be constructed, as well service roads.
In the final package, the existing four lanes will be widened to eight, the Soan Bridge will be widened and a flyover will be constructed at the G.T. Road. Two underpasses, on the Kahuta and Japan roads, will also be built.
Seniors officers from the CADD ministry and the CDA who Dawn spoke to confirmed that the prime minister has approved funding for the widening of the expressway.
Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2018
