RDA to start work on second phase in January

[Salman]

Rawalpindi : Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) would kick off work on second phase of the expansion of Railway Bridge at Mareer Chowk in second week of January 2014.

Credible sources told ‘The News’ here on Saturday that Pakistan Railways is laying tracks on the newly constructed Railway Bridge which has been expanded and it would be completed by first week of January next. As trains would start operating on the newly constructed bridge, RDA would start work on second part of the railway bridge at Mareer Chowk. Work on it would start in second week, the sources said. The entire project would be completed by June 30 next year. Total cost of the project is Rs500 million, however, the Punjab government has yet to release remaining Rs70 million out of the total amount.

Similarly, RDA has completed work on all other components of the project including expansion of one part of the railway bridge, widening of Benazir Bhutto Road from Mareer Chowk to Liaquat Bagh and U-Turns from Liaquat Bagh Chowk to Jang building.

The objective of the project is to ease the flow of traffic from Mareer Chowk to Liaquat Bagh which otherwise had remained snarled throughout the day before the implementation of the mega scheme of Railway Bridge.

The official spokesman to RDA commenting over the report agreed that work on first phase of the project had been completed in November this year and work on the second component would begin in second week of January 2014. Major chunk of funds have been released while the remaining share would also be released accordingly during work on remaining portion. He said with the implementation of the project, traffic flow has eased without any interruption from Liaquat Bagh Chowk to Mareer Chowk. This road has been made signal free with U-Turns at different point from Mareer Chowk to Liaquat Bagh Chowk.

Similarly, as people facing immense problem in crossing the roads from one side of Benazir Bhutto Road to other side from Mareer Chowk to Liaquat Bagh, RDA has planned to construct pedestrian bridge for the public.