ISLAMABAD-The executive board of the National Highway Authority has been allowed to give a contract to complete balance and additional work on the conversion of 2 lane Nullah Leh and Sawan bridges into 4 lanes to the Frontier Works Organization (FWO).
The said work is awarded to FWO under section 42/F of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Rules according to which the competition was conducted only between the public sector organizations.    
The National Logistics Cell (NLC) and FWO submitted their bids. The FWO was declared as the lowest bidder by an evaluation committee, which placed its report before the executive board for its final approval.
A senior officer of the authority has informed that the balance and additional work would be completed by FWO in one year at the cost of Rs.1.8 billion.
Earlier, construction work on the bridge over Soan River was started in 2017 by M/s AKC private limited and it was scheduled to be finished by Jan 20, 2022 but the performance of the contractor remained very poor on the project.
The contract of the previous contractor has already been terminated in April 2022 and its securities have been forfeited on the intervention of the high-ups of the garrison city. 
Due to the damaged road and construction material scattered on the bridge, near the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench building, motorists entering the city have been facing problems. It has left only one lane for vehicles to pass due to which commuters and motorists remain stranded on Soan Bridge. Throughout the day, especially in the morning and evening, traffic remains even more congested.
Meanwhile, the road authority has also called bids for the uplifting, widening and improvement of N-5 commonly known as GT Road from Rawat to Lalazar in Rawalpindi. Under this project, the existing road will be converted into 4 lanes where it is 2 lanes at present in addition to the provision of proper service roads.    
Furthermore, to avoid traffic congestion on Defense Chowk right in front of the DHA phase I gate, the remodeling and widening would be carried out as well. Two protected u-turns each in front of PSO petrol pump near Royal Palace Hotel and in front of a high rise building Minara would be constructed.   
Sources told that the bids for this project have been received and NLC is declared as lowest bidder for said work and contract is likely to be awarded next week at the cost of around 1.7 billion.    
When contacted, Deputy Director Maintenance Rawalpindi Rana Inam informed that originally an elevated interchange was planned at Defense Chowk but due to the shortage of funds and rationalization of the project cost, the authorities have decided to make protected u-turns to avoid traffic congestion. 
Completion of these projects would help to ease the traffic flow as the road is used by thousands of people including goods transporters, who come to the city from other parts of the district via the GT Road.