Over Rs6bn road project approved

Design of Katchehri Chowk project altered to cater to maximum traffic

RAWALPINDI:

The Punjab government has finally approved the Rs6.40 billion Katchehri Chowk underpass and flyover project.

The Frontier Works Organisation has been given the contract of the project aim to cater to the needs of maximum traffic.

Earlier, the design of the project of Katchehri Chowk was altered from a double underpass to a single underpass and a flyover to make it financially more viable. Katchehri will be connected to the Amar Chowk underpass and will be entirely signal-free.

Under the altered design, a flyover will be constructed to cater to traffic coming from Rawat after the construction of Kharian Motorway which will be connected to Grand Trunk Road and the proposed Rawalpindi Ring Road.

It is the only busiest intersection in Rawalpindi for the VVIP movement. This is also the busiest intersection for being close 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.

Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi will lay the foundation stone in the third week of September. Work on the project will be completed in two years.

Rawalpindi Development Authority Chairman Tariq Murtaza said that a final letter has been received for the Kachehri Chowk flyover and underpass project. He said that preparations have been started to start work on the project.

He said that all traffic coming from the GT Road side will pass through the signal-free underpass towards Mall Road, the old airport, Marir Chowk and Murree Road. While traffic from Mall Road will use the signal-free flyover to get to Airport Road, Amar Chowk and Rawalpindi Katchehri.

Under the project, a variety of fruit-bearing and shade trees will be planted along highways.

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.

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.

Earlier, the public hearing of objections to the re-modelling of the Rawalpindi Katchehri Chowk project 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.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2022.