Road infrastructure: Flyover addition will delay corridor inauguration by 15 days

The flyover will link Gulberg’s Main Boulevard to Sherpao Bridge

LAHORE: The addition of a flyover to the design of a signal-free corridor from Liberty Roundabout on Gulberg’s Main Boulevard to Qurtaba Chowk on Jail Road will delay the inauguration of the project by at least 15 days, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The flyover will be constructed at the Fowara Chowk, linking Gulberg’s Main Boulevard to Sherpao Bridge on Jail Road.



“The flyover was added to the design of the signal-free corridor on the request of the Lahore Development Authority (LDA),” Habib Construction Services (HCS) chief executive officer Shahid Saleem told the Tribune. He said the construction of the flyover would delay the inauguration of the signal-free corridor by 15 days. Earlier, the contractor had given October 30 as the expected date of completion of construction.

Saleem said the flyover was added in view of the high volume of commuters expected to use the signal-free corridor.

He said construction work at the corridor was in its final stages. He said construction of all u-turns on the Main Boulevard had been completed, except one near the Liberty Roundabout. He said officials from the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) were still monitoring the volume of traffic on the spot. Liberty Roundabout is a high traffic zone so they want to proceed with the construction of that u-turn after assessing traffic volumes throughout the week, he added.

The initial cost estimate for the project was Rs1.26 billion. It had gone up following delay in start of construction because of a Lahore High Court’s directive in a petition seeking suspension of work on the project. The construction had started after the LHC order was turned down by the Supreme Court of Pakistan allowing the contractor to proceed with construction.

The HCS CEO said the addition of the flyover would raise the cost by another Rs300 million.

The corridor would be 7.6 kilometres long. It would include two underpasses on Jail Road, one at Shadman Chowk and the other at Fowara Chowk.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.