Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A new plan to change the direction of already proposed “Bhara Khu” bypass on Murree Road is under consideration in the Planning Wing of the CDA. The consultants who were hired for the project advised the city managers to increase the length of the said bypass keeping in view of the long term viability of the bypass.

The civic body had initiated the preparations of the said project in July 2016 to find out a permanent solution to the continuous traffic jam on the main Murree Road at Bara Kahu. The area became a bottleneck due to unplanned settlements on both sides of the road in the last few years.

It was decided that the bypass would be constructed from Shahdara Stop to the Women’s College Stop bypassing the congested locality of Bara Kahu. The proposed length of this bypass was around three kilometres long having a double road with two traffic lines on each side.

Two flyovers at the entry and exit points to shift the traffic from the main Murree Road to the new bypass were also the part of this project.

But, now the civic body is considering a new plan to increase the length of the said bypass, as under the new proposal, the road would be started from the same Shahdara stop, but end up on “Satra Meel” instead of the women’s college stop.

“Satra Meel” is the ending point of the Islamabad Capital Territory and it is the place from where the traffic enters into the area of Murree. Source inside the CDA briefed Daily Times, “the said change is being proposed as the consultants of this project were of the view that the previous plan was less viable as the unplanned settlements are expending day by day.

Furthermore, the project is mainly to facilitate the traffic coming from the different corners of the country to reach the hilly point of Murree and a direct and speedy access is only possible when the said bypass link goes non-stop to the Murree toll plaza.

However, the Director Roads Directorate (North) Waqas Farid, while responding on the issue has confirmed the development and said, “There are two proposals under consideration, but it is too early to say something as nothing has been finalised yet.”

He said further: “Both the proposals would be presented before the PM and after a go-ahead from the PM’s house, the selected proposal would be placed before the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for its final approval.”

It is pertinent to mention here that if the CDA changes its plan of the Bara Kahu bypass then the new alignment would be made by crossing the National Park area, which would create environmental problems as according to Islamabad’s master plan, the green character of the National Park area has never been marked for change nor ever meant for the same.

CDA spokesperson Malik Saleem Akhtar, said, “it is a routine that the Authority carries out any project after proper env ironment impact assessments and the same would also be followed in this project.”