ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has announced that it is going to hire a consultant to expand and rehabilitate IJ Principal Road.

In March, the civic agency had said it would soon hire the consultant but it took nine months to take a formal decision.

The civic agency on Sunday announced that hiring of the consultant would be sought through advertisements this week.

The road linking Islamabad and Rawalpindi besides connecting GT Road and Islamabad Expressway has been in a dilapidated condition for years resulting in congestion and gridlocks on a daily basis.

“The consultant will prepare complete feasibility of rehabilitation work particularly focusing on traffic load. The study includes the designing of rehabilitation of IJ Principal Road and its widening. Moreover, the consultant will also prepare the design of additional two-lane rigid pavement on both sides of the road while need-based provision of culverts and improvements in existing culverts will be also prepared,” said a statement issued by the CDA on Sunday.

The consultant will also prepare consolidated designs of interchanges at intersections on the road at 9th Avenue, 10th Avenue and 11th Avenue.

It said IJ Principal Road was basically built to run light traffic but in 2008 heavy traffic was shifted on it. Since then, the condition of the road has been deteriorating.

“Moreover, so many accidents have been reported on the road. Due to thick traffic flow, traffic jams during the peak hours are also observed,” said the CDA.

It said repair/maintenance work on the road had not been carried out for the last three years.

“Realising the importance of the road, the present administration of the authority has decided to carry out rehabilitation and extension in the road. In this connection, process of hiring of consultant was completed on war footing basis and PC-II amounting to Rs30 million was prepared and got approved by the CDA-DWP and now advertisements would likely to be publish during the current week,” the statement said.

CDA spokesperson Syed Safdar Ali said approval was required from Departmental Working Party (DWP) for hiring the consultant and hence the authority took some time.

“Now, things have been finalised. We are going to hire the consultant soon. CDA will carry out rehabilitation work through its own funding while widening of the road will be done through PSDP funds,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2019