Islamabad: Faisal Avenue underpass set to open on Sept 15

[Naveed Yaseen]

Muhammad Anis
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all set to open at Citibank Chowk for traffic by September 15.

A CDA official told ‘The News’ that the work on road of one-kilometre long underpass and roadside work was in final stages and it would be completed by extended deadline of September 15.

The work on the project was delayed due to non-shifting of main gas pipeline and monsoon rains and the deadline had to be extended time and again. However, the middle of next month was set as the final deadline for completion of work and the contractor was also issued strict directives in this regard.

The residents feel that the civic body should learn from past experiences and should make timely arrangements before start of projects like Zero Point Interchange for shifting of utility lines from the site so that no suspension is caused in development activity.

The authority has finalised all arrangements to start work on interchange and was seeking time from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to perform groundbreaking of the project. The official said that work on fixing of curve stones on roads of underpass was in progress while the layers of bitumen would also be in place in the next few days. In last stage of the work, the streetlights and direction boards would be installed.

He said there was no change in deadline of December 31 for completion of work on the whole project, which also include a round about, slip roads and flyover. The contractor is using pre-fabricated technology to install roof of bridges of flyover.

Meanwhile, the CDA Chairman Kamran Lashari has also approved Rs15 million project for beautification of underpass to be carried out also by ‘Matracon’ in three months time. The beautification plan would envisage summarising important buildings and historical places of Islamabad within the underpass. The skilled workers would use relief work on fibreglass on walls of underpass to draw sketches of 144 buildings of the metropolitan

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=133043