Lahore: The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) recently announced a revision to its original plan to fix the longstanding issue of traffic congestion at the city’s Firdous Market complex — with the new proposal detailing the construction of an underpass instead of the previously proposed flyover facility at the crossway, according to a news source. The National Engineering Services of Pakistan (NESPAK) has been hired to provide the project’s design consultancy.
The project was initially conceived in January 2018. The Punjab government at the time had approved a proposal to construct a flyover between Firdous Market and Centre Point in order to make Ali Zaib Road a signal-free route. In December 2019, a news source reported that the LDA had prepared the PC-1 for the construction of five flyovers in Lahore, including one for Firdous Market that was estimated to cost PKR 1.5 billion to build.
The latest information in this regard is that, instead of the planned 550-kilometre-long flyover, Firdous Market will now have a 450-metre long underpass, with initial estimates of the cost to be PKR 700 million. The provincial government may also need to acquire additional 10 kanals of land to develop the project, for which PKR 200 million has been allocated.
Under the signal-free Firdous Market-Ali Zaib Road project, an underpass will be built on both sides of Ali Zaib Road, connecting Centre Point with Firdous Market. NESPAK will submit the new project design before the LDA next week. Once the design is approved, the LDA will then proceed with opening the tender for the project.
