Underpass for specially-abled to be built soon

MNA from federal capital says tenders for Korang Bridge, Khokar U-turn soon

ISLAMABAD: Tenders for the construction of an underpass for specially-abled people, the widening of the Korang Bridge and converting the Khokar Hotel U-Turn on the Islamabad Expressway into a fish-belly will be issued in the upcoming months.

This was disclosed by the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Raja Khurram Shahzad and a lawmaker from the federal capital of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) while speaking to APP on Sunday.

He said that these projects are expected to cost around Rs450 million and that the projects will help improve the inter-provincial traffic congestion along the expressway.

Last year, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had asked the government for Rs10 billion to widen the expressway from Koral to the Grand Trunk (GT) Road, but the government had only provided it with Rs450 million in the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20.

Another way to improve the traffic congestion along the Expressway was if the hosing societies built on it construct the requisite service roads.

As per law, a society spread over 1,000 kanals of land is bound to construct service areas along main highways, said Shahzad, adding that the surrounding housing societies should construct the requisite service areas along the expressway to ease the traffic congestion.

Responding to a question about construction at the Khokar Hotel U-Turn which has ground to a halt, the PTI MNA explained that the nearby CBR Society had started construction to convert the U-Turn into a fish-belly. However, the CDA stopped the work.

Construction on the U-Turn, Shahzad said, is expected to resume soon.

Having been elected from the federal capital, Shahzad said that as much as Rs6 billion is spent on Islamabad was being spent on the schools of the federal capital. Despite that massive expenditure, Shahzad lamented that those schools located in the rural areas of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) lack basic facilities.

Criticising Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz for his failures, he said Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) has been made ineffective.

To facilitate the public, the MNA said that a mega centre of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will be set up in Tarlai.

For resolving the long-standing issues of water supply in the city, he said that a water supply project worth Rs200 billion is being executed which will help bring water from the Ghazi Brotha Dam to Islamabad.

He added that tenders worth Rs350 million for uplift projects in the federal capital has already been advertised, while construction on the Burma Bridge has begun, he said.

Islamabad has a special status and its inhabitants have been deprived of their constitutional rights, especially in the provision of government jobs, provision of better education and health facilities, he complained.

Government jobs from basic pay scale (BPS) grade 1 to 15 were the right of Islamabad’s native residents but they were being deprived of this right, he said.

Regarding the performance of the Standing Committee for which he is the chairman, he said that the committee is performing its duties while keeping all political differences aside.

In this regard, he said that the committee has already passed the Islamabad Rent Control Act 2019, the Islamabad Food Authority Bill and a few other bills, which are expected to be tabled before the National Assembly for debate soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2020.