Peshawar Mor Interchange: Delayed project to be completed by March 23

The holdup has been blamed on a dispute over the design of the girders

ISLAMABAD:

A dispute over the allegedly faulty design of the under construction Peshawar Mor Interchange project has caused an inordinate delay in its completion.

The authorities have now announced that the Rs5 billion project — dubbed the country’s largest interchange — will be completed by mid-March 2016. It was supposed to be completed in April 2015, almost nine months.



In the recent past, work was suspended due to a dispute over the project design between the construction firm executing the project — National Logistics Cell (NLC) — and design consultant National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK).

Work remained at a standstill for almost four months after the NLC refused to go ahead with the design of the interchange originally submitted by the Nespak, expressing apprehensions over the “flawed and feeble” plan.

A senior NLC representative, asking not to be named, said the major objection was related to the design of girders, which bear the structural load and thus constitute a major component of work.

Peshawar Mor Interchange is part of the multi-billion rupee Metro Bus Project. It was included in the metro bus project at a later stage, at the request of the federal government. The federal government would provide roughly Rs4 billion for the interchange, while the Punjab government would pay over Rs1 billion.

Talking to The Express Tribune, NESPAK Design General Manager Danish Raza said doubts were raised over the design of the project and NLC had abandoned the project for almost four months.

“AN impression was given by some quarters that the structure would collapse before completion due to design faults,” Raza lamented.

To settle the dispute, he said a third party was engaged for design validation.

“A high level committee comprising independent senior consultants was formed. They vetted the whole design and consequently validated the one submitted by Nespak,” Raza said, adding that NLC was now executing the project in line with the original design.

During committee proceedings, Nespak answered all the queries and apprehensions raised by the NLC. “All objections proved baseless and the committee endorsed our design,” Raza said.

He admitted that the dispute caused a “three to four month suspension” of work.



NLC’s project manager Major (retd) Tajamul Hussain was refused to comment on the issue when approached by The Express Tribune.

The Rs1.2 billion design and construction supervision contract for the Metro Bus Project, including Peshawar Mor Interchange, was given to the NESPAK on single tender basis by the Punjab government.

RDA spokesman Hafiz Muhammad Irfan said the project will be inaugurated on March 23, adding that despite delays caused by its “technical nature”, almost 95 percent of work on site has been completed.

The total length of the overhead, underground and ramp roads is approximately 14 kilometres. Under the interchange project, some eight flyovers will be constructed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2016.