Chubacha underpass delayed for another month

Pakistan Railways has failed to provide complete engineering designs to contractors.

LAHORE: The Chubacha underpass project has been delayed for yet another month as Pakistan Railways (PR) has failed to provide complete engineering designs to contractors, The Express Tribune learnt on Monday.

Initially, the project came to a halt as the PR delayed issuance of no objection certificate (NOC) to start construction on railways infrastructure.

Now, project civil contractor have completed around 70% of civil works but they haven’t yet received the design for super-structure of the project.



According to Project Contractor Shahid Saleem, his company had completed most construction work on the foundation and is awaiting super-structure designs from the PR. After the initiation of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in the country, PR was in the process to change its design standards which was one of the reasons for the delay, he disclosed.



After wasting around six years, the Punjab government finally launched the Chubacha underpass on project Canal Road near the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club (RPGCC) in March.

The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) awarded a Rs2.6 billion contract to Habib Construction Services (HCS) for the city’s longest (1.3 kilometre) underpass on Canal Road. In the beginning, the government set a deadline of four months for completion of the scheme, but now it is likely to be delayed for yet another month due to the sluggish performance of governments and even more red tape.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2017.