Park Enclave gets a new bridge

Will smooth access to phase-I, negotiate stream

ISLAMABAD:

A bridge leading to Park Enclave was formally opened for traffic on Sunday after its completion in the first phase of a project to make the enclave more accessible.

The bridge has been built to cross a seasonal drain.

Officials of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) said that with work in the first phase of Park Enclave almost complete, the construction was a key part of the puzzle in making the residential housing scheme a success amongst residents of the capital.

They added that with the inauguration of the bridge, infrastructure development in phase-Iof Park Enclave has neared completion as well.

Phase-I of Park Enclave had been launched almost a decade ago but development works there remained stalled causing frustration and anger amongst allottees. Work on the project was expedited in recent years while a third phase was also launched where it received around 1,700 applications for just 1,064 plots during recent balloting.

Moreover, a security system has been installed in the housing enclave, while a road network has been completed and horticulture work is in progress.

Expressway corridor construction

Meanwhile, construction on the next phase of the Islamabad Expressway Signal-Free Corridor (Gulberg-Rawat) is expected to commence in the coming days. The project will help regulate traffic flow on one of the most traffic-heavy artery of the city, said a top official of the CDA.

"All the relevant departments have been mobilised, machinery is moving and the work is expected to start with full force as an alternate traffic plan is being prepared by [CDA] member engineering, traffic planning director and the traffic police," CDA Chairman and Islamabad Chief Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed told APP.

He added that work on the final phase of the corridor has been limbo for many years, mainly due to the financial constraints faced by the civic agency, whereas it is the public who have been bearing the brunt of the long traffic logjams daily while travelling over the road.

Initially, he said that CDA will add two more lanes on both sides of the Korang Bridge for a patch running for a kilometre while an underpass will be built at the Public Works Department (PWD) intersection under a project concept-I (PC-I) approved by the Central Department Working Party (CDWP) at an estimated cost of Rs1.6 billion. Timelines for widening the Korang Bridge and PWD underpass had been set for 15 and seven months, respectively, he added.

The director said contractors have been hired through a transparent bidding process for executing the project and work is expected to start by the next week.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2020.