RAWALPINDI: The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), a subsidiary construction firm of the Pakistan Army, has stated that it has no role in the Punjab government’s Kutchery Chowk expansion project after the decision of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to temporarily shelve the project of remodeling the city’s busiest road junction in May this year.

The FWO in a statement stated that the RDA had invited bids for the remodelling of the Rawalpindi’s Kutchery Chowk in October 2022 and the FWO was the only bidder.

However, it said, the RDA didn’t award the project and the bid expired in May this year, following which the RDA last month returned the bid security deposited by the FWO for the project.

“The RDA is now planning to carry out the expansion of the chowk without the construction of any flyover or underpass. The remodelling of Kutcheri Chowk will be undertaken later. The FWO is not involved in the process anymore,” said the statement.

The Kutchery Chowk Remodelling Project worth Rs6.4 billion was aimed to ease the traffic flow in the main square of the garrison city. The first PC-I of the project was prepared in 2020 and it was later revised in 2022.

A senior RDA official told Dawn that the cost of the project escalated from Rs4.879 billion to Rs6.422 billion in two years for two reasons, one because of the added flyover in the project and the other due to a 25 per cent increase in rates of construction material.

In 2022, the RDA had invited four government firms for the contract, including the FWO, National Logistic Cell (NLC), Railway Construction Private Limited (RAILCOP) and the National Construction Limited (NCL) for the Katcheri Chowk Remodelling, with construction costs of Rs5.1 billion and Rs1.3 billion for land acquisition and shifting of services.

However, the RAILCOP and the NCL did not participate in the tendering process. Later, he said the NLC also did not come to the technical meeting for the contract and, therefore, the FWO succeeded as sole bidder.

He said that in June this year, the RDA decided to shelve the project and replace it with an expansion, instead of remodeling. Thus, in September, the RDA returned the bid security to the FWO. The new project will be presented to the Planning and Development Department soon, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2023