RAWALPINDI: Due to the slow pace of construction work on bridge over Soan River near Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench building, motorists entering the city have been going through a tough time. Commuters and motorists remain stranded on Jhelum Road, Soan Bridge, Aamar Chowk, Rawal Road, Murree Road and other connected roads. During the weekdays, traffic remains even more congested because of which school and university students get late for their classes.

The road is used by people living across Soan River and those who come to the city, including goods transporters from other parts of the country via the Grand Trunk Road.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) launched the project four years ago to reduce traffic congestion but the work was delayed due to non-shifting of utility lines by the departments concerned, including Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL), Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco), Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL), Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and DHA fibre etc.

A senior official of the local administration told Dawn that NHA had committed that the project will be completed within six months after shifting of services by these departments.

“As the road passes through the jurisdiction of Rawalpindi city, the divisional administration took a facilitative role in resolving issues encountered by the NHA in execution of the project,” he said.

NHA launched project four years ago but work delayed due to non-shifting of utility lines

In this regard, weekly review meetings were held regularly with all the concerned departments and accordingly directions were issued for expediting their respective tasks.

“Issues of Iesco, SNGPL and PSO pipelines, SCO and PTCL optical fibres were resolved in October 2020. The site has been clear from all encumbrances since November 2020.

It is expected that parallel work with requisite manpower and machinery would commence on remaining four bridges, he said.

He said that old Soan Bridge will be restored by the highway department during the current fiscal year.

He said that Wasa has completed shifting of pipelines for Phase-1 with Soan Bridge. The pipelines for second phase can only be shifted after restoration of the old bridge.

He said funds to the tune of Rs40 million had been released through a supplementary grant for the purpose.

Another problem was encroachments along the Soan River which also slowed down the construction work.

“I had to travel on this section of the road daily to go to office as well as bring children from school but due to traffic jams at Ammar Chowk, Bostan Road and Rawal Road, I could not reach office on time,” Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Gulraiz, said.

Zulfiqar Ahmed, a resident of DHA Phase-II, said he had no option but to use Islamabad Expressway to go to office located near the old airport as traffic remained blocked on Chaudhry Bostan Road from Car Chowk to Ammar Chowk.

He said that there was a dire need to speed up the work. When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Anwarul Haq said the encroachment issued had been solved and now work sped up on the site. It is likely to complete by the end of this fiscal year.

He said that for the solution of the traffic rush, traffic police had been asked to deploy extra force in the area.

“In the morning and school off timings, problems occur but we are managing things and the NHA has assured us that work to join the new bridges with the existing ones would be expedited,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2021