The city managers have decided to start the much-needed expansion work on the 9km Islamabad Expressway.
Contract Details
On Jan 3, the CDA board met with its Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed in the chair.
“The board has decided to award the contract of the expressway under Rule 42(f) of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, so as to ease the problems being faced by commuters on Koral-Rawat section of the highway,” said a board member on Monday.
The contract has now been awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) as it submitted the lowest bid of Rs2.3 billion on Monday.
Proposed Plan
As per Jan 3, it was decided that the work on expansion will be completed in two phases, of which the first phase will be started immediately through a government construction company.
Under the current project, the two-km-long road from Korang Bridge to PWD Underpass and Railway Bridge will be constructed in 15 months.
Current Traffic Issues
The expressway is one of the busiest roads in Islamabad and traffic on this main thoroughfare has increased tremendously over the past few years, driven primarily by the mushroom growth of housing societies along its length. Where the four-lane highway suddenly transforms into a two-lane road at Korang Bridge, motorists have to face massive traffic congestion. The high volume of traffic and slow moving trucks on the road add to the congestion.
Advantages
Engineers have come up to assure completion of widening of Korang Bridge in the foreseeable future. It will help resolve the problem of traffic congestion.
“With the completion of the widening of the two-km road, a major bottleneck will be removed from the expressway,” the engineer said.
