ISLAMABAD: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has sought a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to connect Leh Expressway with I.J. Principal Road and 10th Avenue.

The Leh Expressway is a project of RDA while the I.J.P. and 10th Avenue projects are being constructed by the CDA.

Officials said recently RDA had requested CDA to issue an NOC for connecting Leh Expressway with 10th Avenue.

A few days ago, a meeting was held at the CDA headquarters, attended by CDA’s engineers and consultant Zeeruk International (PVT) and the consultant of RDA, Nespak, to review the design of the proposed overhead bridge which will link Leh Expressway with 10th Avenue.

CDA officials said during the meeting the consultant of the RDA mentioned that the proposal had been prepared in consultation with CDA’s consultant and the design was being simplified in order to minimise land acquisition on Rawalpindi side.

An engineer of the CDA said: “The plan envisages linking the Leh Expressway with I.J.P. through simple at-grade slip lanes and linking the 10th Avenue with Leh Expressway through an overhead bridge over I.J.P road.”

It was also discussed that traffic generated from 10th Avenue will make the Leh Expressway project more feasible as it will be a tooled road. Therefore, construction charges of the overhead bridge, whether through Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) or under the public private partnership, should be borne by the RDA.

“It was also decided that issues as elaborated above need to be discussed in the next higher forums – Ecnec and CDWP,” read minutes of the meeting, adding a representative of the RDA requested for issuance of conditional NOC as the Capital Development Working Party (CDWP) had instructed RDA to get the NOC from CDA.

The consultant of RDA was asked to verify the grades of linkages and mark the coordinates of start point of 10th Avenue and Leh Expressway along with costing of the overhead bridges and additional works for linking the expressway with 10th Avenue for further action, read the documents.

It was also decided that the design of Leh Expressway should be implemented till 10th Avenue by RDA.

The issue of toll sharing and cost of land to be paid to the CDA shall be taken up in CDWP and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for a decision.

Leh Expressway is the pet project of Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and is said to be a major road project in Rawalpindi that will cater to the needs of a large number of people. Recently, RDA started demarcation of land which will be acquired for the project.

The rehabilitation of I.J.P. Road and 10th Avenue are CDA’s projects. Currently, the project of overhauling and rehabilitation of I.J.P. Road is in progress while a few days ago CDA awarded contract of 10th Avenue to the lowest bidder, National Logistics Cell (NLC), which submitted a bid of Rs10.2 billion.

According to CDA officials, 10th Avenue will be constructed in two phases. In the first phase, a five-km-long road will be constructed from I.J.P. Road/Katarian Bridge to Srinagar Highway near the edge of G-9 and the starting point of G-10. Once started, work on the project will be completed in 21 months.

The officials said in the second phase, the road will be constructed from Srinagar Highway to Margalla Road.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2021