Sinking in: Repairs to depressed Ring Road underway
The National Logistics Cell is reworking sections of the Lahore Ring Road that sunk because of faulty construction work, resulting in long queues for traffic heading towards the Defence Housing Authority.
The NLC began work on Package 12, between Mahmood Booti and Gowala Colony, of the Ring Road about two months ago. Workers have been leaving one lane open for traffic while they work on the rest of the road.
“This particular section is not an example of quality work by the contractor,” said Jawad Rafique Malik, the Lahore commissioner and project director for the Ring Road.
Before the Ring Road was built, this section was a mud track with depressions on either side. Malik said that the contractor, a company called Putfarajevo based in Bosnia, had not filled in enough mud or levelled the road properly. As a result, parts of the road have depressed due to heavy traffic.
The contractor had not been fully paid, said the commissioner, “although I am facing immense pressure from the ambassador to release the remaining payment”.
He said that the amount spent on revamping Package 12 would be deducted from the money due to the contractors. “The contractor failed to fill the land with the required quantity of mud before constructing the road. We chose the NLC to restructure the patch and bring it up to the standard of the rest of the Ring Road,” he said.
There have also been complaints about the quality of the service lanes, though Malik said these were unfounded. “The service lanes are not of the same quality as the main road, but they’re not bad,” he said, adding that they had suffered extra wear and tear from heavy vehicles that used them while parts of the road were being worked on.
The NLC is also expected to win the contract to collect tolls on the Ring Road, for which it would get paid 15 per cent of the tax. The rest of the money would be used for repairs to the road.
Malik said that since the road was fairly new, there was no need for major maintenance. He said that the construction of other parts of the Ring Road was underway and there was enough money to complete them.
The Ring Road was opened for traffic in phases from 2009, with the formal inauguration of the Northern Loop occurring in early 2010, when Turkish President Abdullah Gul visited Lahore and opened an interchange named after him.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (12)
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well done Shahbaz Shariff .... Longlive PTI and Imran Khan
@Zabandraz: The difference in the Punjab is despite some degree of corruption, things get done and there is improvement of facilities and infrastructure. Compare this with other parts of the country where there is more corruption and nothing gets done. This is why people recognize the Punjab to be the best developed and most stable province in the nation.Take the Ring Road and you'll see that it is still better than virtually every other road in Pakistan and anyone who has taken taken it will sing its praises. Just because the pro Musharraf ruler of Punjab in the past awarded the contract to some Bosnian company is no need to blame the present government of Shahbaz Sharif which finally got the work done speedily.
@Iram:
You should first get your facts right before getting so hyper, the contract to the bosnian company was awarded by pervaiz elahi regime well before 2005.
This ring road contracts were awarded by Pervaiz elahi regime under Musharraf rule, so the principal culprit here is Pervaiz elahi. A significant part of the ring road was constructed even during pervaiz elahi´s regime while what was left got accomplished in Shahbaz sharif´s government without any halt.
Its only a small portion of the road which is below expectation. Rest of the road is in great shape. Mian Sahib has done great things for Lahore. We request him to extend his services for another term to complete all big projects he has initiated for Lahore and other parts of Punjab.
Well i m a lahorite and an admirer of PTI. And I must say that ring road was Chaudary Brothers execution but was speedily completed in phases by the SHarifs. I am a frequent treveller of the ring road and I must say that they have done a marvellous job constructing it. Even the hard shoulders and the road itself is of international quality. The drive is very smooth and speedy. I know that the bosnian company was awarded the contract but tht was done by the Chaudaries so they must answer this part. Secondly the commissioner lahore is telling the truth abt land being muddy as the area surrounding it is a dumping site. As far as they deduct the maintainence work money from the contractor, I got no problems.
Money siphoned off and they STILL claim that there is no corruption in Punjab!!!
Merit, merit or merit a verbal slogan of Shahbaz Sharif but practically it is no where. in presence of NLC contract given to a Bosnian company and with out inspection road opened and now commissioner head of project himself investigating the matter, good governance at its best. That is why i have PMLN.
I took the Ring Road recently and I have to say that despite whatever shortcomings, it is a welcome addition to Lahore. It has made road travel much more comfortable and easy to and from the city. I was very impressed with the Ring Road as well as all the other infrastructure improvements in Lahore. I am sure that whatever deficiencies have been shown can be remedied easily because Shahbaz Sharif takes a personal interest in improving Punjab.
So who paid for this Road??? Punjab Govt or President Gul of Turkey?? Why is his name on the Interchange??? Did he give a billion Turkish Liras to someone??? He is not the kind of man to do that, so why is he in the Ring Road Picture?? Now the Bosnian contractor. That's another figment of illicit payments. FWO has constructed many roads in Pakistan of excellent quality. Why weren't they given this project??? Has anyone in the media followed the money trial from Commissioner Lahore to Bosnia (I mean some off-shore account in a tax-haven with a Trustee managing it)?? Do the monies or part thereof flow to another fictitious Trustee Account that was able to build a huge office complex in Ilford, Essex??? reputed to belong to a Very Rich Family of Lahore. Go and figure that out.
Why was a Bosnian company given the contract in the first place?
And who is probing into the matter as to how the contractor was chosen and who supervised the work progress?? wasting the publics money? or siphoning it away!