7th Avenue interchange to be ready for inauguration in October
The Capital Development Authority has completed the construction work on 7th Avenue Interchange and it would be formally ready for inauguration in the last week of October.
The major civil works have already been completed by the authority and now the finishing work and horticulture works are underway on site that would also be completed by 25th of this month.
It was informed by a senior officer of the engineering wing, who said the authority had made the bridge operational in August but did not inaugurate it to first fully complete it. He said now the project is in final shape and it would be ready for inauguration next week.
The interchange is built at the junction of 7th Avenue, Srinagar Highway, Khayaban-e-Soharwardi and Garden Avenue near Aabpara.
The interchange will be a cloverleaf with four left and right loops while there will be an underpass to link both the portions of Khayaban-e-Soharwardi.
The NLC had won the contract after submitting the lowest bid against the one submitted by the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) under section 42/F of PPRA rules.
According to details, grading and casting work has been completed on Srinagar Highway, adjacent to 7th Avenue Interchange, while work on removal of culverts framework is also in progress. Similarly, the work of fixing slab steel on side wall panels is also in progress.
The completion of this project will also help in maintaining the flow of traffic and will also reduce the problems like traffic jams in the twin cities.
The interchange was first planned in 2008 and many times the CDA management discussed it in its Development Working Party meetings but the project could not come out of papers.
On the other hand, motorists have been facing traffic mess and prolonged signals at the junction. Long queues of vehicles could be seen on a daily basis particularly during office and school hours.
It is pertinent to mention here that while keeping people’s suffering in mind, city managers had decided to award several projects including 7th Avenue Interchange by using Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s rule 42 (F) according to which a project can be given to government owned entities without going into open bidding for its early completion.
The city managers have awarded multiple projects under this clause that includes 7th Avenue Interchange, construction of a Greenfield 10th Avenue worth of Rs10.2 billion, reconstruction of IJ Principal Road worth of Rs4.9 billion to NLC while Rs1.4 billion project for the construction of judicial complex in Islamabad is awarded to the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) as well.