The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has announced that work on the seven-kilometre expansion of the Islamabad Expressway from PWD to GT Road has begun with clearing and grubbing along the construction site.
According to the details, the clearing and grubbing work began two weeks ago and is expected to be finished in two weeks. The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) will begin construction work to widen the busy road once it is completed. The CDA officials (whose names were not disclosed) stated that the civic agency has requested that the expansion project be completed in six months. After the expansion project is completed, work on the expansion of Sohan Bridge and the construction of Bindar Bridge will begin.
It is worth noting that the CDA Board accepted FWO’s bid of PKR 11 billion to expand the Islamabad Expressway from two to four lanes. According to the news source, this project includes the expansion of the Sohan Bridge, the construction of the Bindar Bridge, and the construction of an underpass on the Japan Road. The project is expected to take 18 months to complete.
As per the news source, the Islamabad Expressway has already been extended to Koral. Another project is expanding the two-kilometre stretch of the expressway from Korang to the PWD stop, which is expected to be completed within the next four months.
Furthermore, according to news sources, CDA Member (Engineering) Syed Munawar Shah stated that the Korang Bridge-PWD interchange project would be completed by December 31.
Munawar stated during a press conference that the 5-lane highway project is moving quickly and will be ready for traffic by the end of the year. Even though the project has been delayed for many months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a severe and unexpected monsoon season, he stated that it would be completed to improve traffic flow.
He also stated that the project was pushed back due to technical difficulties with the bridge design on the Railway’s Main-Line 1 (ML-1) project. However, the engineering team was able to fix the problem.