Pirwadhai Mor Flyover faces bottleneck

[Salman]

RAWALPINDI, Jan 8: Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has refused to shift water supply and sewerage lines, along the under-construction Pirwadhai Mor Flyover, at Peshawar Road, unless reimbursed for services.
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Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal asked RCB to shift services along Pirwadhai Flyover, so that the construction company National Logistic Cell (NLC) could start construction on Peshawar Road.

The demand was made during a meeting held here at Commissioner Office with Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal in chair. The meeting was attended by Punjab Communication and Works, RCB, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL), Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) and NLC officials.

However, the RCB demanded Rs25 million from the provincial government as charges for shifting the utility services like water supply and sewerage lines.

RCB claimed that the main water supply line coming from Khanpur Dam at Pirwadhai Mor was constructed last year and it would be difficult to shift it.

According to officials working on the project, Pirwadhai Mor Underpass and Flyover Project will be completed in four months, in two phases. The total cost of the project is Rs1.447 billion.

In the first phase, the flyover will be constructed at Peshawar Road, on the side where the traffic is coming to Saddar from Peshawar.

In the second phase, the underpass will be constructed to connect I.J. Principal Road with Peshawar Road.

Divisional administration official told Dawn that the project started in haste and without proper planning and the shifting of utility services would delay the work. “If these issues had been resolved before the start of the project, then the unnecessary delay would have been avoided,” he said.

The official said that earlier, SNGPL main supply line of gas came in the way, when the construction company dug the ground for the foundation of the flyover.

The official added that the Communication and Works department made amendments in the master design, otherwise, the shifting of natural gas would have taken two months extra. He said that the design had been changed with the consent of the Punjab government.

Communication and Works department Superintendent Engineer Jamshaid Khan told Dawn that the provincial government asked RCB to redesign its drain, along the flyover at Pirwadhai Mor.

Jamshaid said that the water supply line and sewerage and the construction cost will not be paid by the provincial government but it would be constructed by RCB from their own funds as it was not part of the flyover.

“The provincial government already paid money for the shifting of services before the start of the construction work, October last year,” he said.

However, the RCB Additional Cantonment Executive Officer Shakeel Anwar Jappa told Dawn that the provincial government asked to shift the utility services along Pirwadhai Mor but the RCB sought charges from it for this purpose.

“We demanded Rs25 million from the provincial government for shifting of services,” he said and added that there were main water supply lines and sewerage lines along the main road and these were initially part of the flyover project.