The design of the double underpass project of Katchehri Chowk has been altered to make it financially more viable.
Under the altered design, the Katchehri Chowk will now have a single underpass and a flyover. Consultant firm NESPAK has developed the new design of the road project, which will now be completed in eight to nine months instead of 18 months deadline slated earlier.
Source said that the change in design would also significantly minimse the requirement for land acquisition surrounding the Katchehri Chowk.
Rawalpindi Development Authority Chief Engineer Dr Habib-ul-Haq Randhawa said that work on the project will be started immediately as the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency has issued the no-objection certificate after the completion of a public hearing on the project.
It is the only busiest intersection in Rawalpindi for the VVIP movement. This is also the busiest intersection for being in close proximity to the GHQ.
According to data, more than 300,000 vehicles pass through this busiest road daily. This intersection remains busy with traffic from morning till late at night.
Due to the VVIP movement, motorists, transports and citizens remain stuck in traffic.
An Environmental and Meteorological Assessment Station will also be set up at Katchehri Chowk to gauge environmental pollution and expected climate change. Single-level underpasses will be developed first as part of the project, and additional flyovers will be built to improve the flow of traffic under which traffic will pass through Katchehri Chowk at level one and level two.
Traffic will pass through a single lane from Rawat to Merrir Chowk and the old airport, while the remaining 53.9% of traffic will be totally signal-free. Piles will be set at a distance of 3,300 feet from the existing structures around the chowk before the excavation for the project's construction work.
Randhawa said that the RDA would monitor the work on the Katchehri Chowk project and alternative traffic routes will be allocated to the public so that they were not adversely affected.
The project costing Rs3.80 billion will be carried out with state-of-the-art style, new architecture, modern European and Chinese technology.
A part of the old mosque along the main entrance of the old district courts, dozens of lawyers 'chambers, a large part of a petrol pump, a portion of the commissioner's office premises and the boundary wall of the civil defence department will be razed to make way for the project.
It is currently the busiest square in terms of traffic, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles passing through it daily. Because of increasing traffic pressure, it has been decided to make this most important Chowk signal-free so that the traffic from Jhelum Road, Ammar Shaheed Chowk, City and Cantonment and Adiala Road passed through it without hurdle.
Earlier, the public hearing of objections to the re-modelling of the Rawalpindi Katchehri Chowk project worth over Rs4 billion was completed. Representatives of the Fatima Jinnah Woman University, traders, students and civil society members participated in the public hearing conducted by the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency.
People, including lawyers, businessmen, students and representatives of Fatima Jinnah Women's University administration, presented their objections to the area inspector Maqbool Ahmad. Fatima Jinnah Women's University had raised objections to the inclusion of its 38-marla land in the project and the subsequent accumulation of water at the interior and exterior locations of the university.
The university was told that the land included in his project would be compensated.
Four walls will be built again, and a rainwater tank will be built inside the university to cater to the needs of the university.
Lawyers raised concerns that their path would be affected during the construction work, while the students raised concerns that the environment would be adversely affected. Businessmen said that their properties would be damaged during the construction work.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 3rd, 2022.
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