CDA board approves realignment of Margalla Road.

ISLAMABAD -- The Capital Development Authority (CDA)'s board on Friday approved slight realignment of Margalla Road near Shah Allah Ditta to save a century-old graveyard.

The board approved shifting of the road towards the southern side and C-13, D-12 to preserve the graveyard. The construction work on Phase I of Margalla Road (from GT Road to D-12) is near completion as over 70pc work has already been completed. However, the contractor, Frontier Work Organisation (FWO), has been facing an issue in the area due to the graveyard.

The CDA board, which met with Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed in the chair, approved the realignment and directed the member estate to start the process of compensating those whose houses will fall in the new alignment.

Earlier, the CDA was planning to construct either a tunnel or a flyover to avoid the graveyard.

The portion of the road starts from G.T. Road and ends in D-12 from where after construction of an interchange and a small portion of 11th Avenue it will be linked with Khayaban-i-Iqbal.

Under-construction road to be shifted towards southern side near Shah Allah Ditta to save century-old graveyard

The 33-km long Margalla Road from G.T. Road to Bhara Kahu is part of Islamabad's master plan. However, the CDA decided to construct it in three phases.

According to the CDA, two phases will be constructed this year and the third one in the future, when a need arises.

Under the first phase (from G.T. Road to D-12), work is in progress and officials believed that it will be completed in September this year.

In the second phase, an eight-km-long Bhara Kahu bypass will be constructed from Murree Road near Quaid-i-Azam University to Satra Meel. However, there is no serious development regarding the second phase (Bhara Kahu bypass) as the CDA is yet to approve its PC-I.

Sources said during the board meeting, the...