Completion of Zero Point Interchange project likely by June

ISLAMABAD, April 20 (APP): The multi-billion project of Zero Point Interchange will be completed till June this year, however, the major portion of the interchange will be opened by end of April. According to a senior CDA official, the contractor has completed almost ninety percent of the project and a few leftover arteries are being given final touch.He said one carriageway of Islamabad Expressway bound to Faisal Mosque has been opened while the second one is being carpeted.

By end of April, major portion of the project costing around Rs 3 billion will be opened, though some of the slip roads and loops are already open to traffic.

The official said slip road linking Kashmir Highway with Faisal Avenue is under construction and will take almost another one and half month to complete.

“All but one loop will be completed by April end that would give access to the traffic moving from Faisal Avenue to Kashmir Highway,” said the official.

He said contract of the said loop was awarded later to the firm Maqbool Associates Pvt Ltd due to some technical complications.

He said as the loop has been designed very close to the National Monument, it was feared that it might threaten the nearby structure of the monument.

“To avoid any damage, we have engaged a foreign firm to supply anchors to support the monument tying it with the nearby rocks,” said the official.

Due to the shortage of funds, order has not been placed for the anchors, therefore, transportation of the steel-made anchors would take a couple of months, adding their cost would be borne by the contractor firm.
Till completion of the loop, the traffic heading from Faisal Avenue to Kashmir Highway would be given alternate route. The traffic would take flyover nearby Zarai Taraqqiati Bank and would take U-turn from Kashmir Highway to reach Peshawar More.

Regarding installation of pedestrian bridges, he said the project has been approved by the Capital Development Authority and Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) has been awarded the contract. All four pedestrian bridges would cost Rs 48 million and the HMC has committed to install them within three-month time.

The official said some alteration has been made in design of the under-construction pedestrian bridge at Islamabad Highway and instead of concrete, the steel girders will be placed on it too. The modification has been made fearing any untoward incident due to huge width of the road.