‘Work on Ayub Bridge to be completed soon’

The National Highway Authority (NHA) has said that the rehabilitation work on Ayub Bridge on Karakoram Highway (N-35) at Havelian would be completed within 6 months after completion of the tender.

A spokesperson for the NHA said on Friday that the Ayub Bridge on Karakoram Highway at Havelian was an old structure constructed from a scrap of a bridge dismantled after the construction of Tarbela Dam in 1974.

He said that the Ayub Bridge on Karakoram Highway (N-35) at Havelian was damaged during heavy rainfall on July 11. The bridge was immediately closed for all types of traffic, including the pedestrians.

The NHA spokesperson said that to assess the damage and devise the future course of action, the NHA team visited the bridge site on July 12 and a site visit of structural experts of the NHA was carried out on July 13.

Read NHA issues Rs25m tender for repair of Ayub bridge

He said that in response to the initial tender, only one bidder participated in the bidding process. Due to a single bidder, re-tender was published in the print media on October 1 and three bidders took part in the bid and the case file was forwarded to higher authorities.

Currently, the case was under process and the rehabilitation work will be completed within 6 months after completion of the tendering procedure as per PPRA rules, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2021.