RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has completed designs for making the Liaquat Bagh intersection and Marrir Chowk on Murree Road signal free and has started work on thePC-1 so funds for the project can be released.

A senior RDA official told Dawn that according to the design, two underpasses will be constructed at Liaquat Bagh intersection and Marrir Chowk.

“Traffic on Murree Road will be signal free but the traffic coming from Raja Bazaar to Marrir Chowk and Tipu Road will have to use traffic signals. Traffic from Marrir Chowk to Liaquat Bagh will also use traffic signals,” he said.

He said the current design will require funds worth Rs1 billion. However, if both intersections are to be made completely signal free, Rs1.4 billion will be required for the project as the authority will have to acquire land on both sides of the intersections and there will also be additional construction costs.

Local politicians say the government may not want to risk starting construction work on the main road just before elections

He said the consultant had briefed the RDA officials on Sept 5last year about the design but the RDA director general had asked for a design that would require less land as the Punjab government did not have enough funds for land acquisition.

When asked, RDA Chief Engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari said the consultant had finished making the design and that the authority will send the PC-1 to Lahore for final approval in a week or two.

He said the RDA will start work on the project as soon as the funds are released. He said this is a technical project which will require time and that the smooth flow of traffic will also have to be ensured during the project.

Local PML-N leaders, on the other hand, doubted that the project would be launched this year.

“The RDA could not prepare the project on time and now it is too late to start a project of this nature,” a senior party leader said, requesting to not be named.

He said construction work on the busiest road in the city before the general elections will not go well with locals.

“Work may be started in the summer vacations so school going children will not be affected,” he said.

“During the construction work on the metro bus project in 2014, PML-N leaders from Rawalpindi suggested that two underpasses be constructed but the then commissioner, Zahid Saeed, who is now Punjab chief secretary, did not accept the suggestion,” he said.

When asked, former PML-N MNA Malik Shakil Awan said the project was supposed to be launched much earlier, before the elections and that the party will not risk starting construction work on the main Murree Road.

He said the project may be started during the tenure of the next government as the provincial government also has other development works to complete such as hospitals and schools.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2018