Margalla Avenue,

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The Capital Development Authority (CDA), after reducing scope of work on the under construction Margalla Avenue, is targeting to open the road for traffic by middle of next year.

A CDA official told ‘The New’ on Monday that the width of the Margalla Avenue has been squeezed to half from 600 feet owing to non-acquisition of land for the project. “The project could have been delayed had we waited for acquisition of remaining land for the avenue,” the official said.

He said the same 300 feet wide land starting from Sang Jani to the D-12 is being used for construction of the Margalla Avenue, which was acquired to lay pipeline to bring water from Khanpur Dam adding the width of the road would be double as the CDA acquired remaining land.

In the first phase from G T Road near Sang Jani to the west side of Sector D-12, two lanes will be constructed on both sides at a cost of Rs580 million. “We are moving ahead according to the plan and schedule and will complete the project by end of June, next year,” the official said.

The 5.5 kilometre avenue on completion would facilitate commuters coming from Wah Cantonment, Taxila and KP providing them an alternate and easy route to up to the federal capital.

As per original plan, the development authority is to link Margalla Avenue with the 11th Avenue but the CDA source said that the project would likely to hit snags in the second phase and it would be difficult for them to move forward from Sector D-12.

The sources said in order to reach the 11th Avenue, the Margalla Avenue would pass through Sector D-11 which had been allotted to a sensitive organisation. “We are negotiating with the concerned authorities for the road through Sector D-11,” the source said.