Completion of work on Rawal Dam Interchange flyover by July end ordered

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Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) Amer Ali Ahmed issued directives to the engineering wing of the civic body to wrap up construction work on the Rawal Dam Interchange project by August 30, particularly the flyover that he desired to be up and running by the end of this month. 

CDA chief Ahmed, Member Engineering Syed Munawar Shah, and other concerned officers of CDA visited the construction site to inspect the pace of the work. 

In April, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the authority to complete the project during the first week of September by all means necessary. 

Rs1.1 billion project was inaugurated in July 2020, but development work on it formally began in October. The project was likely to accomplish by Oct this year however PM moved up the deadline by a month. 

It was also announced that the FWO would complete the project at the same amount of Rs1.1 billion on which it was given to the former contractor who left the project midway. 

To meet the deadline given by PM Sharif, the CDA management has accelerated the work on the project. 

“We are planning to open the overpass/flyover to traffic on July 31. While the entire project will be completed by the end of August for its final inauguration which is likely to take place in the first week of September,” according to a CDA official. 

Moreover, the CDA had faced an impediment after contractors – a joint venture of two companies – stopped construction work halfway earlier this year because of a hike in the prices of construction material. 

The work was suspended for two months before being taken over by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and National Logistics Cell (NLC) at the request of the civic body. 

It is to be noted that the CDA administration has been giving major contracts either to the FWO or the NLC under 42(F) of PPRA rules. 

With regard to the award of the Rawal Road project to private companies, a CDA engineer remarked that the civic body’s experience with the private contractors was “disappointing” which caused the authority to look towards the army-run companies for the completion of the project within the stipulated time. “Now, we are satisfied that work will be completed by end of August,” he added referring to the FWO.