Zero Point to draw closer to airport as work on 3 roads starts today

ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority will start construction work on three mega road projects today (Wednesday) to cope with swelling volume of traffic as the city's population has reached to 1.7 million.

The projects to be kicked off include construction of Margalla Avenue, 11th Avenue and widening of Kashmir Highway. Margalla Avenue would run along foothills of Margalla Hills and will connect G.T. Road to Sector D-12. This Avenue will also provide an easy access to the new under-construction Islamabad Airport.

This nine-kilometre road would have two-lane with 24-feet width on each side, a 20-feet median and will also comprise a railway bridge. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 744 million; however two firms have offered equal bids of Rs 500 million in open bidding.

Close to this Avenue, the CDA would also launch two residential sectors of C-15 and C-16. The 11th Avenue is planned to connect the Kashmir Highway with the GT Road through Margalla Avenue in phase-I to provide an alternate approach from the GT Road to the Kashmir Highway.

Besides, the seven-kilometre Avenue would facilitate the inhabitants of sectors G-10, G-11, F-10 and F-11. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1.04 billion and project would take around nine months to complete. The project involves one underpass at intersection of F-10/F-11 and G-10/G-11 and an interchange at the Nazimuddin Road and the Ibn-e-Sina Road.

Under the project, the 11-kilometre Kashmir Highway would be widened from existing two to five lanes from Peshawar Morr to the GT Road and would cost around Rs 4.8 billion. The project comprises six new bridges, three underpasses on 10th, 11th and 12th Avenues, a flyover on Golra Road. The designed speed of the road would be 120 kilometres per hour to help commuters reach from Zero Point to new airport within 15 minutes instead of current 45 minutes.

The Highway is said to be the future lifeline for Islamabad and the under-construction Benazir International Airport, at Fatehjang, is to complete in 2013.