The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will construct two more flyovers on Faisal Avenue against a cost of Rs700 million to address the engineering flaws of the already constructed Jinnah-Faisal Avenue Interchange.
According to a CDA official, the authority would soon finalise the project’s design and table it before the CDA Board to approve it that would be followed by awarding of contract.
In 2009, the authority had spent around Rs1 billion on the interchange on the intersection of Jinnah Avenue and Faisal Avenue containing an underpass and a flyover supposed to solve the problems of traffic moving to and from the Blue Area, the downtown of the federal capital.
The CDA ignored the repeated warnings from various circles informing him that the design of the underpass contained flaws and would cause traffic congestion at the intersection instead of ensuring a smooth traffic flow.
Even the Planning Commission had asked the CDA to revise the design as it would not cater to the traffic coming to and from two service roads namely Fazl-e-Haq and Nazimuddin Roads.
Meanwhile, the authority had dualised both the service roads costing millions of rupees to address the swelling traffic congestion, but the interchange had disconnected the roads thus causing traffic congestion.
Even the civic body had failed to realize the existence of two major hospitals on Fazl-e-Haq Road including the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Polyclinic Hospital, where the ambulances frequently moved. Since the construction of the interchange, ambulances had to adopt alternate routes.
According to a CDA official, even the contractor firm had proposed to the CDA to review the design or to build two overhead bridges to link both service roads, otherwise the motorists would have to cover a long distance to reach the other side of the roads.
Soon after completion of the interchange, the CDA had to install traffic signals on the Jinnah Avenue after witnessing massive traffic congestion on the intersection contrary to the idea of uninterrupted traffic flow supporting the construction of the interchange.
However, the CDA was in the process of designing two additional flyovers on both service roads that would cost around Rs700 million. It is important to mention here that the CDA had been starving for funds and could not even give away salaries to its employees, while it was wasting money on construction and reconstruction of roads and flyovers.
“If these overhead bridges had been constructed simultaneously with the interchange, it would have cost approximately Rs400 million with minor modifications in the original design,” said a CDA official.
