Naqvi launches multi-billion dual carriageway project along Islamabad Expressway

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday performed the groundbreaking of a multi-billion-rupee road scheme under which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) plans to build a dual carriageway along the Islamabad Expressway in place of the existing service road.

The project covers a nine-kilometre stretch from Faizabad to the Gulberg Green stop. The planned road will have three lanes on each side and will replace what was described as a dilapidated service road along the capital’s main artery.

It was not yet clear why the CDA opted for a three-lane dual carriageway in place of the service road on an expressway that already has four lanes on each side. The expressway has a right of way of 1,200 feet. While there has been no official statement on the matter, the CDA had on several occasions in the past discussed commercial planning within the expressway’s right of way. An official was quoted as saying, "In the coming days, things will be clearer,"

Procurement process and cost

The CDA had initially planned to execute the service road project through a competitive bidding process involving private contractors, and 11 companies submitted technical bids in response to its advertisement. It later decided to proceed on a government-to-government basis under 42(f) of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules.

There was a possibility that the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) would undertake the project. The PC-I places the estimated cost at Rs7.4 billion, though the final amount could rise or fall once bids are opened under the government-to-government procedure.

An official was quoted as saying, "After completing the process of G-to-G basis tendering, hopefully, work will be started after some days," adding that if the process moved ahead smoothly, the project would need at least six months for completion.

Timeline and obstacles

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Naqvi directed the CDA to complete the project within 90 days. However, the planned alignment includes more than 600 structures or encroachments, while dozens of electricity poles will also need to be relocated, a process described as time-consuming.

A decision had yet to be taken on graves falling in the road’s alignment. There is an old graveyard in Faizabad and also isolated graves along the proposed route. The sources were quoted as saying, "I guess around 200 graves fall in the alignment of this road, which are likely to be shifted to other places,"

The CDA was expected to begin clearing encroachments from the right of way from Wednesday.

Recent work on the expressway

The CDA has already spent billions of rupees on the Islamabad Expressway, which has been overhauled and widened from Faizabad to GT Road. The final section, from Gulberg to GT Road, was expanded last year and inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in December along with the T-Chowk/Iqbal Flyover at the junction of GT Road and the expressway.