The Traffic Engineering and Traffic Planning Agency (TEPA) will construct a 4.4-kilometre road connecting Multan Road and Khayaban-i-Jinnah, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The agency received tenders for the project on Monday from three construction companies – Sarwar & Co, NLC and ZKB.
TEPA will evaluate technical and financial proposals and award the contract to the lowest bidder this month.
TEPA officials said the construction work would start in October. The Rs2.6 billion project will be completed in six months. It will help address traffic problems on Multan Road and Raiwind Road, passing through five housing colonies.
The project will include an elevated u-turn and a bridge over the canal. The road will reduce distance between Multan Road and Khayban-i-Jinnah by 3.5 kilometres.
The Planning and Works Department had approved PC-1 of the project in February. As many as 15 houses will be acquired and demolished for the construction.
The construction work will start from the Shahpur Interchange of the motorway. The elevated u-turn will be built at the National Logistics Cell (NLC) depot. It will facilitate traffic coming from motorway to Multan Road.
A bridge, more than 500 metres in length, will be constructed over the canal and Mohlanwal Road. The TEPA is in the process of acquiring land for the bridge.
The bridge will have two slip lanes an up-ramp and a down-ramp for traffic on Mohlanwal Road. It will land at Doctors’ Colony from where a three-lane dual carriage way will lead to Excise and Taxation (E&T) Colony.
From E&T Colony, the road will lead to Punjab University Employees Housing Scheme.
The road will intersect Raiwind Road and go through Green Fort-3 Housing Society up till Wapda Town Phase Two. From there it will enter Wapda Town ending in front of Abaseen Avenue on Khyaban-i-Jinnah.
More than 200 kanals are being acquired to build the road. The road connecting Punjab University to the E&T Colony will become part of the project and no additional land will be purchased from the university.
Small tracts of land will be purchased from the E&T Colony and Wapda Town Phase Two. Some land from Doctors’ Colony and Green Fort Housing Society will also be purchased.
TEPA Additional Chief Engineer Khalid Alvi said of Rs2.6 billion, Rs1.83 billion would be spent on the construction and the remaining on land acquisition and relocation of utility services.
He said a Section 4 notification (informing people that land is required for a project of public interest) had been issued to the owners of these properties.
He said presently, the distance commuters cover while travelling from Multan Road, Shahpur to Khyban-i-Jinnah till Abaseen Avenue, is 8 kilometres. The new road will reduce it to 4.4 kilometres. He said it would save commuters time and fuel and also mitigate the problem of traffic congestion on the Multan Road and Raiwind Road.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2014.