ISLAMABAD: The much-awaited Bhara Kahu bypass road was opened to the public on Thursday after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated it, while ground-breaking of the Serena underpass was postponed in light of objections raised by the premier against the contractor.

The Bhara Kahu bypass – a pet project of the PDM government, worth Rs6.5 billion has been completed in almost 10 months.

Speaking on the occasion, PM Shehbaz said this project was a need of the hour as “people have been suffering for years because of the traffic mess on the existing Murree Road” passing through this area. He said that this project should have been launched much earlier, but anyhow “better late than never”.

According to the prime minister, though the project was “not q commercial or industrial project, it still faced controversy and litigation” because of the CDA and Quaid-i-Azam University tiff over the alignment of the road.

Shehbaz refuses to perform ground-breaking of Serena underpass, says road construction not job of railways’ company

The initial portion of the bypass road passes through the QAU, and in return, the CDA offered an alternate piece of land to the university. The PM said that the CDA contested the case in the court and ultimately the court decided in favour of this project. He claimed had this project not faced such challenges, it would have been completed much earlier.

PM Shehbaz recalled that this project was the vision of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif but he was removed from power through a ‘controversy’ and this project like many others could not be launched.

He appreciated CDA Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal and the National Logistic Cell (NLC) for the completion of this project.

‘74,000 trees along road’

Talking about the landscaping work, PM Shehbaz said that 74,000 trees have been planted along the bypass road and added that one million plants should be planted.

He appreciated the performance of PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi and tasked him to ensure more saplings were planted along this project.

It is relevant to note here that the said project, which is a blessing for people, also saw several controversies as earlier this year. Two labourers died when a transom collapsed and some days later a girder also fell down which prompted the PM to order an inquiry. However, the outcome of that inquiry is yet to come fore.

Meanwhile, a number of people belonging to Bhara Kahu, Murree, Galyat, and Kashmir through their social media posts appreciated the government for resolving the traffic issue in the area.

Serna underpass controversy

Before inaugurating the bypass, PM Shehbaz was supposed to perform the ground-breaking of an underpass near Serena Hotel and the widening of a portion of Srinagar Highway.

However, after reaching the spot, PM Shehbaz asked which construction firm was going to execute this project, he was told the Railway Constructions Pakistan Limited (Railcop), belonging to Pakistan Railways.

He refused to perform ground-breaking, saying the construction of roads was “not the job of ministries”. He said that such work “suits in the hands of the ones skilled to do it”.

At this stage, the PM directed the CDA chief to cancel the contract of this company and seek fresh tenders. PM Shehbaz asked the Railcop DG about the expertise in road construction. He responded that this was a government-run company, which had expertise in the construction of bridges.

The PM said that he must be given a presentation about this company on Friday (today), after which he would decide the fate of this project.

It is relevant to note here that Railcop and National Logistic Cell (NLC) participated in the bidding process of this project.

The bid worth Rs2.1 billion submitted by Railcop turned out to be the lowest against the bid of around Rs3.5 billion submitted by NLC. Therefore, Railcop won this project.

Under this project, the contractor will finalise the design of the underpass before starting the construction. Besides that, the existing Srinagar Highway from 7th Avenue Interchange to Serna Chowk will also be widened with two additional lanes.

Furthermore, the last portion of this highway from said junction to Murree Road will also be overhauled. Once started, the design and construction work of the project will be completed in six months.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2023