The committee discussed the delay in extension of Kashmir Highway and construction of Pak Secretariat Block at Constitutional Avenue. PHOTO: FILE.
The capital’s civic agency on Monday assured parliamentarians that the much-delayed Kashmir Highway expansion work will be completed by the end of June.
Member engineering, Capital Development Authority (CDA) Sanaullah Aman on Monday informed the Standing Committee on Planning Development and Reform that 70 per cent work has been completed and the project would be ready for traffic from July 1.
The committee, which met at the Parliament House with Member National Assembly Abdul Majeed Khan Khanan Khail in the chair, discussed the delay in extension of Kashmir Highway and construction of Pak Secretariat Block at Constitutional Avenue.
The prime minister had also taken notice of the delay in work recently and directed the civic agency to complete it immediately.
“The construction is going on day and nights and the project will be completed by June 30,” the official said.
The official informed the meeting that work on widening of the highway was initiated in 2007 to ensure smooth flow of traffic to and from Lahore and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and to open a new link between the capital and the proposed new airport.
Owing to paucity of funds, the cost of the project escalated from Rs2.192 billion to Rs4.857 billion.
He informed the committee that the addition of third, fourth and fifth lanes to the highway from Peshawar Mor to GT Road have been revised by construction of new bridge for the additional carriageway.
The official informed the MNAs that in addition, rehabilitation and improvement of the existing 11km two lanes and construction of three additional lanes on northern and southern carriageway of Kashmir Highway between Peshawar Mor and GT Road was being carried out.
Similarly, rehabilitation and extensions of six existing bridges, construction of a grade separated intersection at Golra and box culverts to provide underpasses at the proposed 10th, 11th and 12th avenues having capacity of six lanes, proper drainage system, improvement of road junctions and footpaths along with allied facility are being done.
Pak Secretariat Block
The legislators took notice of the defective design and work of the new secretariat block on the Constitution Avenue.
Public Works Department Director General briefed the committee on present status of the block and stated that work on the main building was started on June 19, 2007 at an estimated cost of Rs1.8 billion.
He stated that the building is not worth occupation for at least nine months due to defective design. He assured the committee that new block will be completed in six months.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 29th, 2014.
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