ISLAMABAD: Work on the first portion of Margalla Road from Sangjani to D-12 is in full swing as the civic agency is expected to get it completed by July this year.

Officials of the engineering wing of the CDA said that out of total 10.5km-long-road, work on around 6km-long-road has been completed.

“Work is in progress with good pace and we are hopeful, that this project will be completed by July this year,” said an official of the CDA.

The official said work on a railway bridge falling on the road was also in progress.

Originally the road starts from G.T. Road at Sangjani, but CDA, in a bid to avoid traffic, started work half kilometer short of G.T. Road and this small portion will now be constructed at the end of the project.

With regard to the Shah Allah Ditta graveyard, which falls in the alignment of the road, CDA is weighing three options, the official said, adding the civic agency will either go for flyover, a tunnel or divert portion of the road in this specific area.

An official of the CDA said the options were being discussed with special focus on flyover and tunnel.

It is expected that after completion of this road, the traffic load will be reduced from Srinagar Highway, as traffic coming from motorway, G.T. Road and residents of housing societies located along the G.T. Road will use this road.

Officials in CDA said construction of interchanges on Khayaban-i-Iqbal, which will be linked with road near D-12, are imperative to handle traffic coming from G.T. Road.

Therefore, they said, the engineering wing is planning to start construction of a couple of interchanges and a linking service road.

The Margalla Road from G.T. Road to Murree Road near Bhara Kahu is part of Islamabad’s master plan.

However, it remained neglected for decades and last year, on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan, CDA started this project. However, instead of construction of entire around 35km-long-road, the CDA is constructing it in pieces as under current plan, the civic agency will construct its two phases only.

Work on first phase from G.T. Road to D-12 is in progress while work on second phase, which is being called Bhara Kahu bypass, will likely start in May this year as its alignment and designing have already been finalised.

However, the third phase, which is main patch from D-12 to Quaid-i-Azam University, is not likely to begin in near future.

Sources said alignment and designing of Bhara Kahu bypass has been finalised and the work will likely be started by the end of April or in May, as PC-I of the project is yet be approved from CDA’s Development Working Party (DWP).

The 7.8km bypass road will start near Malpur area and after crossing through QAU and lower Shahdhra area it will be linked with Murree Road near Satra Meel area bypassing the Bhara Kahu bazaar.

However, this project has been facing delay, though Prime Minister Imran Khan had laid foundation of this project in April last year.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2022