LAHORE: The package-2 of the controlled access Babu Sabu-Niazi Chowk/interchange scheme (also known as Bund Road Project) has been opened for traffic, easing mobility of a huge population of several residential and commercial areas, including Gulshan-i-Ravi on both sides of the corridor. The delay in completion of the package-2 had made mobility of the people terrible besides causing health and environmental issues due to dust and concrete particles.

“The elevated portion (central corridor/median road) of package-2 (Babu Sabu to Gulshan-i-Ravi) had already been completed along with package-1, starting from Gulshan-i-Ravi and ending at Niazi interchange. Both packages, the elevated portion of both packages and the service roads of package-1, were already open for traffic. But the issue was at package-2 where the service roads were not constructed due to land acquisition and other issues,” a spokesman for the LDA explained while talking to Dawn on Friday.

“Now the service roads have been completed and opened for traffic,” he declared, adding that the chief minister would soon inaugurate the project.

To a question, he said that on both sides, some works, including beautification and greenbelts, are underway at the moment. He said the last deadline to complete package-2 was set for July 31 but it couldn’t be met due to rains and strike of trucks.

Meanwhile, LDA DG Tahir Farooq and DC Syed Musa Raza paid a visit to the project site on Friday.

The project administration briefed the DG and DC on completion of the service roads and various works that were being finished. They were told that the project would benefit 250,000 motorists daily.

The officers also visited Ravi bridge extension project where they were told about the works that were about to be finished.

It may be mentioned that the work on the Bund Road project was launched in 2022 to resolve issues traffic congestion and pollution. After various studies, the government decided to rehabilitate this major outer artery using innovative approaches. Initially, three options were considered for the project titled ‘Rehabilitation of Bund Road from Babu Sabu Interchange to Ring Road along with improvement at Gulshan-i-Ravi T-Junction’. But later, the design of the project and its scope were reviewed and finalised again with increased height of the main expressway along with other facilities.

In September, the then caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi laid the foundation stone of the project that restricted mobility of local traffic, including motorcycles, bicycles, cars and rickshaws on the main elevated corridor by providing them with a separate two-lane expressway on each side with the provision of subways to move towards Babu Sabu or Niazi Chowk or the nearby localities instead of using the Bund Road, which is part of the ring road.

The project faced massive delays due to land acquisition, release of funds and other technical and administrative issues.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2024