Islamabad Highway: Contractor hastens pace for VIPs?

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Imran Naeem Ahmad
ISLAMABAD: Contractors engaged by Capital Development Authority (CDA) have often shown snail-pace progress thereby delaying several road projects in the past but the speed with which the Islamabad Highway is being expanded is quite amazing.

It is however generally believed that the speedy work has more to do with the frequent VIP movement seen on this road being widened at a cost of Rs 1 billion than anything else.

“Had it been any other road, it would have taken ages but since this one is used so often by the VIPs, therefore it is coming up so fast,” said a city resident.

Clearly, some of the road projects that the CDA executed last year fell massively behind schedule, thanks to contractors who cited monsoon rains and delay in removal of service lines as the reason for the delay.

Work on widening the highway to five-lanes-a-side from its current three had begun only in February and already a section of the road from Koral to Lehtrar Interchange is virtually complete and due for opening shortly. Such has been the pace.

Similarly several other portions, all of which will be rigid on either side of the road are fast being given shape by contractors Maaksons, who were also involved in constructing parts of the 9th Avenue and the stretch of highway from GT Road to Koral.

“So far the work is going as planned and should be completed by December this year,” said CDA’s Director General Works Abdul Jabbar Melano on Monday. He said that initially there were plans to add only one lane on either side of the three-lane-a-side road.

CDA’s consultant engineer Arshad Nasim Qureshi had said recently that contractors completing work before the scheduled time span would be rewarded while those falling behind punished.

“It is the client’s prerogative to give work to a certain contractor and take it back if he thinks work is not progressing satisfactorily,” he said, adding that if they could award a contract, they could also take it back. But certainly there’s no taking back from Maaksons.

An estimated 160,000 vehicles use the portion of the highway from Faizabad to Koral that is currently being widened, making it the busiest in the Capital. “The traffic load has increased tremendously and it had become imperative that it be expanded,” Melano said.

Officials point out that the contractors’ pace of work was all the more creditable for the company was not disrupting the flow of traffic. There have however been snarls at times during the morning and afternoon rush hours that contradict official claims.

Heavy Transport Vehicles (HTVs), mostly overloaded, have left some of the roads on the outer periphery of Islamabad furrowed that makes driving difficult, especially for smaller cars.

It is precisely for this reason that the authorities are now going for rigid lanes to cope with transport vehicles and to ensure that no rutting occurs on the tarmac.

Although the CDA plans to put in place a proper weighing system for HTVs, no such facility currently exists. “We will also be adding rigid lanes to Kashmir Highway which sees overloaded trucks using the road,” Melano said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg11_2