Over Indus River: Four-lane bridge to connect Layyah, Taunsa

NHA to launch tendering process for Rs7b PSDP-funded project in a month

ISLAMABAD: Construction work on a much-needed bridge over the Indus River to link two major cities -- Layyah and Taunsa -- in southern Punjab is starting soon, it was learnt on Monday.

Detailed designing of the 1.5km long, four-lane bridge project is nearing completion, according to the National Highway Authority (NHA) documents available with The Express Tribune.

The NHA will start tendering process for the Rs7 billion Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP)-funded project within a month, now that the hydrological study of the project has also been completed.

The project site is located in between Layyah, east bank of the Indus River, and Taunsa, the west bank of the river, according to the documents.



Due to the absence of a proper river-crossing between the two cities, the only two links available are DI Khan-Darya Bridge located 88km upstream of the project’s proposed site and Taunsa Barrage located 52km downstream of it.

With no bridge linking Layyah and Taunsa, the residents of both the cities are facing immense difficulties. They have to travel 100km by road from Layyah to Taunsa or vice versa.

An NHA official told The Express Tribune, “Currently, people are using ferries to travel across the river. The ferry service takes almost an hour and twenty-five minutes to reach Taunsa from Layyah.”

The official said that a direct route through the bridge would help reduce the distance between the two cities by up to 50km -- from 120km through Taunsa Barrage currently.



Sharing further details, he said the flow of traffic from east to west would be facilitated by providing a link between N-55 (North-South Corridor) and Motorway M-4 (Peshawar-Karachi Motorway). The west bank of the Indus River, which is Taunsa, would also be connected with the provincial road network on the east side of the Indus, he added.