Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The city managers have been preparing to name the upcoming project of a bypass at Bara Kahu to avoid traffic jam in the area as “Nawaz Sharif Bypass”. The project is expected to be completed within one year; whereas, the PC-1 of the said bypass is being prepared by the Directorate of Works in CDA.

Sources inside the civic body have informed Daily Times that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to designate the new bypass at Bara Kahu with the name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

An official present at a meeting regarding the bypass project on the condition of anonymity said; “it is the wish of the State Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, that the upcoming project should be named after the prime minister.”

He said further that some officers of the civic body were of the view that naming the new project as “Nawaz Sharif Bypass” can negatively be used by the opponents of PM as he had already faced a controversy regarding his open heart surgery (bypass).

He informed: “However, it is decided that the name of the prime minister would be a part of the name of the new project, but it is not finalised yet that what exactly it would be.”

The project will directly benefit property giants, who invested billions of rupees in the area, when they will receive a wider gateway to their housing schemes and residential apartments after the completion of the said bypass as currently the market value of these properties is low just because of the prevailing traffic blockage at Bara Kahu.

Besides the aforementioned reason, a well-placed source revealed that the main force behind the execution of the said project was the military establishment because it considered the bottleneck at Bara Kahu as a strategic hurdle to move artillery and military assistance in case of any emergency like a war situation on the Line of Control as it is one of the major routes to link Pakistan with Kashmir.

Sources also briefed that the PC-1 was being prepared by the Authority’s directorate of works and a deadline of 45 days was set by the higher ups to finalise the paper work; whereas, the project would be completed within one year.

The project would be constructed on Murree Road, from Shahdara Stop to the Women’s College Stop to avoid continuous traffic jam in the area of Bara Kahu. The bypass would be three kilometres long and having a double road with two traffic lanes on each side. The project would also include two flyovers at the entry and exit points to shift the traffic from the main Murree Road to the new bypass.

The bypass would be constructed on the land, already acquired by the CDA and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration and there is no problem of land and passion on land. The city managers are hopeful that the project would be completed in the given time.

It is pertinent to mention here that it is not the first time that any project is going to be associated with the national leader, but it is a routine in all over the world to name various buildings after national leaders and dignitaries.