Chubacha Underpass to finally see light of day

Planners believe project will dramatically improve traffic flow

LAHORE: The Punjab government has finally decided to construct the Chubacha Underpass on Canal Road near the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club (RPGCC).

Bureaucratic hurdles and the sluggish performance of city developers has seen the project cost rise by a whopping 53% since the project was originally envisioned in 2011, The Express Tribune has learnt.



Lahore Development Authority (LDA) recently awarded a Rs2.6 billion contract to Habib Construction Services (HCS) to build the city’s longest (1.3 kilometre) underpass under two railway crossings.

HCS CEO Shahid Saleem said the underpass would be completed in four months after the issuance of award letter. The company has started setting up makeshift site offices for proper monitoring of the project.



Saleem said the company would also increase the height at Shalimar Interchange under the project. For the moment, heavy vehicles like buses and trucks cannot pass through. However, the height increase will smoothen the flow of traffic. He said the company will also build a civic structure for the underpass and hand it over to the Pakistan Railways.

The new underpass will be of three lanes on both sides of the canal for which the government will acquire land. It will start near the RPGCC and finish before Shalimar Interchange after crossing two railway junctions. City planners believe the construction of a new underpass will dramatically improve traffic flow and reduce commuters’ miseries during rush hour.



Chubacha Underpass was originally planned in July 2011. Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) Director Israr Saeed, who is the current Lahore Development Authority chief engineer, told The Express Tribune that it was planned to start construction in the current month.

He said National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) had already completed the feasibility. The project cost was originally estimated at Rs1.7 billion of which Rs400 million was earmarked for land acquisition. Saeed said the authority had to acquire 40 kanals for the underpass from the Pakistan Railways, the Irrigation Department, WAPDA and residents along a shrine next to one of the crossings.

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