Despite strict directives of the Interior Minister, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) will be unable to meet deadline to complete I J Principal dual carriageway by April due to mismanagement of authority's engineering wing, sources told Business Recorder here on Monday. The 10.2-km I J Principal dualisation road project was launched by the CDA five years ago at a cost of about Rs 900 million but so far it has not been completed despite availability of sufficient funds from the federal government.

Sources informed this correspondent that at least 30 percent work on the project is yet to be completed which will take at least three months more.

The civic agency had to open the road for general traffic but sources confirmed that authority has extended the cut off date up to May 31, 2005, citing heavy rains the major reason for inordinate delay of the project.

The work on second phase of the project was started in January 2003 by a private builder, who had been time and again asked to complete the important project well before schedule as the residents of the twin cities of Islamabad-Rawalpindi are badly suffering from the traffic congestion.

The second phase is being carried out at a cost of Rs 350 million.

It is worth mentioning here that Interior Minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had inaugurated the 6.2-km Pirwadhai-GT Road section (first phase of I J Principal Road) in January.

A competent official in the CDA Works Directorate revealed that vacating the encroached land occupied by some influential departments took extra time that led to the delay in execution of the project.

He informed that continued spell of heavy rains has severely damaged the development works being done by the CDA particularly on the second portion of I J Principal dual expressway.

Sherpao repeatedly asked the authority to reduce the completion time period of the second phase of the dualisation.

The CDA had also failed to meet the targets given by the minister particularly in case of Judicial Complex. I J Principal Road bifurcates Rawalpindi and Islamabad, therefore people from both cities would benefit from the project. The 10.2-km long patch from Faizabad to Peshawar Road will connect with N-5.

In the first phase, the CDA official said, a sum of Rs 118 million had been spent and Rs 350 million would be utilised in the second phase. A railway underpass and two bridges are also being built. The sources said that CDA has reduced the cost of the project from the actual estimates due to better financial management.

Railways had been provided Rs112 million for the construction of the underpass.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005