Islamabad Expressway expansion irks commuters

Officials point to flawed designs of corridors for problems

ISLAMABAD: The daily commute on the Islamabad Expressway from Koral to Rawat, or the other way, has become a nightmare for commuters since traffic remains clogged for hours on this stretch of the road with no apparent solutions in the sight. The government had converted the route into a signal-free corridor in 2017. But it seems the problems continue in 2018.



Last year, Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) Director for Road Directorate North Tahir Mehmood had said that they had prepared a self-financed project concept-I (PC-I) for widening the road by adding another lane to each track.

However, the project was later shelved owing to a lack of funds. However, he said that the department had drafted a second PC-1 which was approved and included in the PSDP in the fiscal year 2018-2019, listing its cost at Rs10 billion.

The project was expected to secure the nod of the top government authority, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at its next meeting.



Mehmood said the project would consist of two phases, each costing Rs5 billion. In the first phase, the section from Koral to Naval Anchorage would be built. In the second phase, the remaining section was expected to be completed.

"We have invited pre-qualification bids from contractors and the process of evaluating application is underway and is expected to be finalised by May 23," the roads director said.



CDA's law, though, stipulates that a tender has to be offered within 15 days after the applications are evaluated. By this timeline, work on the project should start in the third week of June. Maqsood Satti, who regularly commutes from Bahria Town to Sector F-8 in the heart of the capital said it was a nerve-racking job to reach his workplace on time or to get back home in a timely manner. He added that most of his time during commuting was spent waiting behind queues of heavy vehicles.

Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) Deputy Superintendent Arshad Chaudhary said the traffic jam was inevitable on this route since it has ten lanes up to Gulberg but the road suddenly narrows down to just four lanes causing chaos on the roads.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2018.