RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has asked the National Highway Authority (NHA) to fix the under-construction bridge on the Soan River more than a week after a portion of the bridge caved in ostensibly due to a flaw in its design.

On June 26, a pillar and girders collapsed, disrupting traffic on the artery linking Rawat with Kutchery Chowk. Subsequently, a caretaker minister had given the NHA three days to repair the damaged part of the bridge.

During his visit to the site over the Eid holidays, Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha relayed the instructions of the provincial government to the NHA and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), the contractor. He also asked the traffic police to make arrangements to divert traffic to facilitate citizens who should not face problems from Monday.

The NHA said that the pillar of the under-construction bridge would be constructed anew and the work had been kicked off in this regard. It further informed that the construction would be expedited in the coming days to complete the project within the stipulated timeframe. Earlier, the completion time of the project was September 15, but since the pillar would be constructed from scratch, the project could face a delay of up to 15 days.

Talking to Dawn, Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha said that the work would be completed within the stipulated timeframe set by the provincial government. He said the provincial government was worried about the traffic mess in the area and asked the construction company to complete the work in time.

According to the commissioner, traffic had also been diverted towards the old bridge and the extended portion of the bridge had not opened for traffic yet.

He said that under the project, the NHA had to construct 20 feet extension to widen the bridge and added that the traffic police had been asked to make a plan to control the flow of traffic as people would be returning to the garrison city after the Eid break.

He said that the Soan Bridge was the entry point of the garrison city and it was necessary to make proper arrangements to avoid congestion in the area. He said that the construction company had been asked to adopt all the safety measures during the construction work and standard operating procedures issued by the government to prevent any untoward incident.

It may be mentioned here that the girder and pillar of under-construction bridge over the Soan River near Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench collapsed. Fortunately, no loss of human life was reported at the time.

Due to damage part of the bridge traffic was diverted to the old bridge which caused a traffic mess on the road, even during the Eid break. A senior official of the engineering department of the district administration had said the faulty design was the main reason for the collapse.

Before the rain, the contractor was supposed to make arrangements to mitigate the stormwater [in event of rain] and construct a protection wall away from the bridge but such measures were not taken, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023