Zero Point Interchange project further delayed

ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: Technical complications in construction of the final loop under the National Monument and financial constraints have delayed the completion of Zero Point Interchange (ZPI) for another month.

Work on the loop was scheduled to finish by December 31 but now it is expected to be ready by the end of January 2012.

“The construction of the loop is delayed because water of a natural spring is flowing down from the hillock causing complications in the work. But we will complete it by end of January,” Capital Development Authority (CDA)’s project director Mumtaz Hussain told Dawn on Sunday.

He said the spring had been plugged when the project was commissioned in 2009 but it started flowing again during the excavation work.

The interchange was scheduled to be completed by September 31, 2010, but the contractor said non-payment of his dues, VVIP movement on Islamabad Highway and hurdles in construction work due to the monument had caused the delay.

Though the interchange was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilnai in July, the process of compaction and reinforcement of hillock has already taken four-and-a-half months.

The National Monument is said to be one of the main hurdles in the construction of the loop.

It has also led to changes in the design of the interchange and reduction in the size of the loop.

It has been learnt that the remaining work of the final loop required another Rs150 million.

The under-construction loop will provide passage to traffic coming from Faisal Mosque to reach Kashmir Highway or across Islamabad Highway.

Motorists have complained about hardship while driving on the interchange especially when they do not find way to cross Islamabad Highway while coming from Faisal Mosque and Khayaban-i-Soharwardy (from CDA headquarters).