More money approved for ZPI

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD, May 19: The Capital Development Authority Working Party (CDAWP) has approved the revised estimated cost of three big uplift projects, including the Zero Point Interchange (ZPI), but deferred the ambitious Light Emitting Diodes plan.

Imran Shah, the authority`s director planning and evaluation, said the meeting approved the revised estimates of ZPI from Rs2.27 billion to Rs4.14 billion, as Maqbool Associates, the firm building the ZPI, has been given the additional work.

The meeting of the CDAWP, a body which approves development projects of the authority, was chaired by Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi.

“The revised cost of Arts and Craft Village has also been approved by the party. Some development work in Fatima Jinnah Park executed in 1992 has also been approved,” he said.

The city managers have extended the scope of work of ZPI, as Maqbool Associates is executing the project launched in September 2008.

Under the additional work on ZPI, additional 16-kilometre road (eight lanes road each from Peshawar Mor and the 7th Avenue crossing to Zero Point) will be constructed at the same rate on which the interchange has been constructed.

The additional work has been awarded to avoid bottlenecks and traffic congestion on the two sides of the under construction interchange.

The ZPI project was formally started in September 2008 after a series of designs were prepared to overcome the problems created by the construction of National Monument, built on the order of former President Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf.

Zero Point is one of the busiest traffic points in Islamabad and the project was started to overcome increasing traffic pressure there.

Under the LED Light Project, the CDA wants to fully replace lighting system of the capital by spending Rs6 billion on it. As the cash-starved CDA has no funds to execute the project through its own resources, it is considering a foreign loan from the firm which will be selected for the project.

The CDAWP deferred the project as the committee members said it related to the Finance Division due to foreign funding component.