Rawalpindi Expressway

RAWALPINDI, Nov 4: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to start work on the elevated expressway project to ease traffic flow on the city’s main thoroughfare.

The proposed expressway between Secretariat II intersection and Chandni Chowk will be completed in two years at a cost of Rs13 billion.

Mr Shairf directed the relevant authorities to complete the formalities within minimum time so that the construction work could be started at the earliest. He said the elevated highway would be completed expeditiously to provide better transport facilities to the citizens of Rawalpindi and to solve of traffic problems on the Benazir Bhutto Road.

He was talking to reporters at the Islamabad airport after attending a meeting on the muchawaited project. Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, MNA Khwaja Mohammad Asif, Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed, RPO Mohammad Aslam Tareen, DCO Imdadullah Bosal, CPO Rao Mohammad Iqbal, National Engineering Services Pakistan (Nespak) vice-president Qazi Iftikhar and other officers were also present.

Mr Sharif said third party evaluation as well as other measures should be adopted for ensuring high standards of construction.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed and Nespak vice-president Qazi Iftikhar said that due to the heavy cost of the original plan, under which the elevated expressway was to be built from The Mall to Double Road, the chief minister had issued instructions last month to rationalise the expenditure. After reports by various committees, a revised project has been prepared which involves comparatively less expenditure. They said earlier the estimated project cost was Rs30 billion.

They said the revised elevated expressway would be 4.5km long and would have two lanes on each side. Moreover, two underpasses would be constructed at Sixth Road Chowk and Double Road Chowk to make Benazir Bhutto Road signal free up to Faizabad, they added