High profile Margalla Road project: Construction work progressing at slow pace

ISLAMABAD: According to those regularly travelling through the area, the Margalla Road project is progressing at a slow pace.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had conducted the ground-breaking of the high-profile project in the federal capital in April 2021, and it was envisaged that it would be completed in a few months.

The Margalla Road, a major artery in Islamabad, is part of its master plan. It runs in the foothills of the Margalla Hills connecting the capital to the GT Road and M1 motorway, thus providing another entrance to the city and quick connections to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab.

The project was initiated by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in 2009 but left incomplete due to right of way issues and a dispute of the contractor with the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

After a decade-long delay, the project was kick-started in April after the prime minister and the federal cabinet declared it of “national security significance” and gave a waiver to the CDA from the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) law. This avoided any competitive bidding and the project was directly awarded to a government firm.

An official told The News that a key argument presented to the federal cabinet was that

awarding a contract to an important government contractor will speed up the project.

A ground check, however, revealed that the progress on the project is slow as the contractor has partially sub-let it to others. There is no mobilization of heavy machinery and workforce which is usually the hallmark of the main contractor.

Commuters from Attock, Haripur, Wah, Taxila and other areas in the northwest of the capital, the local populace, and real estate developers who had pinned high hopes on the project are disappointed at its present pace.

This is the same Margalla Road into which the aborted Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) was to merge at Sanjgani, Islamabad. While the R3 has been scrapped and the officials associated with it are in jail after the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab

instituted a case against them, the construction of the Margalla Road is witnessing slow progress.

When completed, the Margalla Road is not likely to reduce the traffic load on the Srinagar Road and the GT Road till Sanjgani, but it will tremendously cut down the travel time and spare commuters from bearing a heavy cost. Those who have to come to Islamabad from Taxila, Attock, Fatehjang and the adjoining areas every day and those going to or coming from Peshawar will particularly benefit from the Margalla Road.

A few months before the revival of the Margalla Road was publicly announced, the Islamabad sectors adjoining the road project saw the heavy

buying of plots by a large number of people at cheap rates as the sellers, mostly those who have got the pieces of land in exchange for the land acquired by the CDA, were not aware of the impending

development. When the project was officially unveiled, the prices skyrocketed. It showed that those who had invested had got a clue of the project before it was made public.

One seller told The News that he had sold a 500 square yards residential plot in the C sector for just Rs3.6 million to meet the education expenses of his son some months prior to the announcement of the construction of the Margalla Road. However, the price jumped up to Rs18 million after the project was officially made public.

Meanwhile, a report said that the CDA has approved the revised alignment of the proposed portion of the Margalla Road, known as the Bhara Kahu bypass. The Army’s Engineer-in-Chief (E&C) branch has given a presentation to the CDA on the alignment of the 7.4km bypass.

Earlier, an alignment was prepared by the E&C branch, hired by the CDA, which, however, had not agreed with it as a portion of it fell on private land near Kot Hatyal.

In reality, the first alignment was around 2km short, but the CDA had to acquire land and pay compensation to people for their built-up property. To avoid fresh land acquisition and subsequent litigation, the CDA opted for a revised alignment, which is 2km longer but it passes through state land.

Under the revised alignment, the road will be constructed on state land right from its starting point near the Quaid-i-Azam University till Satra Meel.

After detailed designing, a project proposal would be finalised to be followed by construction work.

The Margalla Road, as per the Islamabad master plan, begins from the Sangjani area/GT Road and culminates on the Murree Road near Bhara Kahu after passing through the foothills of the Margalla Hills.