Leh Expressway length cut short in new budget

Parliamentary secretary assures project will be completed as per schedule

RAWALPINDI:

The government has slashed the length of Leh Expressway while reducing the number of flyovers, underpasses, and interchanges owing to acute shortage of funds in the new budget, The Express Tribune learnt on Thursday.

The proposal to lay track for the mono train on the expressway route has also been abandoned, they added, maintaining that the changes would expectedly reduce the estimated cost of the project by 40 per cent.

After a revision of the costs, the project’s commencement point will be at Jhanda Chichi Nullah Leh bridge near Ammar Chowk instead of Sawan River and it will extend to IJP Road in Islamabad while being entirely signal-free with service roads as well.

Sources informed that the funding for the project would be done by the Punjab government which would be allocated in the second week of the current month. The government officials opine that the traffic rush usually starts from Jhanda Chichi Nullah Leh bridge while the route from Sawan River witnesses less traffic.

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Therefore, a new double road with Chaklala Scheme – III via Gulistan Colony has been included in the project.

The Leh bridge in Jhanda Chichi would be the starting point of the expressway and for this purpose, the land area has been allocated in the expansion of Ammar Shaheed Chowk.

Officials stated that the Leh Expressway would be flanked by 20 feet high embankments while the width of the roads would be 15 feet. The first interchange would be at Ammar Chowk, second at Rialto Chowk on Murree Road, third at Gawalmandi bridge and fourth at Leh Bridge on City Saddar Road.

Upon being contacted, the Federal Parliamentary Secretary Sheikh Rashid Shafique assured that the expressway project would be completed in any case. He added that the government would lay the foundation of the project in the new fiscal year.

He also mentioned that properties along the expressway would be declared commercial for construction of multi-storey towers and plazas. He further told that the government would plant 150,000 fruit-bearing trees to provide shade on both sides of the expressway.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2021.