News
CDA Awards Rs1.45bn Kashmir Chowk Underpass Contract, Construction to Begin After September 27
By Mariam Khan
Real Estate Analyst
3 min read
The Capital Development Authority has accepted the bid for the Kashmir Chowk underpass project in Islamabad, with formal construction expected to begin after September 27. The accepted contract is worth approximately Rs1.45 billion against an estimated tender cost of Rs1.486 billion, and pre construction activity, including site clearing, traffic diversion planning, and the shifting of utility services, is already under way.
How This Project Reached the Construction Stage
CDA leadership had previously directed that all timelines for the Kashmir Chowk underpass be strictly maintained during an earlier review of the authority's major development projects, alongside the related Margalla Avenue extension linking N-5 to M-1, which is separately planned to include one loop and two underpasses of its own. That earlier emphasis on timeline discipline appears to have translated into a genuinely fast moving process, from tendering through to an accepted bid and pre construction work beginning within a matter of weeks.
Why the Fast Track Timeline Stands Out
CDA expects the project to be completed on a fast track basis in roughly two months, a notably compressed timeline for underpass construction in Islamabad given how other major road projects in the capital have historically taken considerably longer to complete once ground work begins. Pre construction activity already under way, particularly the shifting of utility services and traffic diversion planning, is typically one of the more time consuming preparatory stages on a project of this kind, and having it substantially advanced before the formal September 27 start date is part of what makes the two month completion target more plausible than it might otherwise appear.
Why Kashmir Chowk Specifically Needed This Fix
Kashmir Chowk sits along one of Islamabad's busier traffic corridors, and congestion at signalised intersections of this kind has been a recurring target of CDA's broader underpass building programme across the capital in recent years. An underpass at this location is intended to remove a significant volume of through traffic from the surface intersection entirely, reducing the kind of peak hour delays that have affected commuters using this route regularly.
What This Means for Surrounding Property and Commercial Areas
For residential and commercial areas around Kashmir Chowk, an underpass completed on the roughly two month timeline CDA has targeted would represent a genuinely fast improvement to traffic flow and accessibility, though the pre construction and construction period itself is likely to bring temporary disruption to businesses and commuters using the surrounding roads. Property owners and businesses near the intersection should expect short term inconvenience from traffic diversions in the coming weeks, balanced against a comparatively quick resolution if the fast track timeline holds, and should treat improved accessibility around Kashmir Chowk as a reasonable medium term expectation once construction concludes.