The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has opened technical bids for a new underpass at Kashmir Chowk on Murree Road, marking the start of another mega infrastructure project in Islamabad. The Rs1.4 billion project will see an underpass built at the intersection, commonly known as Dhokri Chowk, near Islamabad Club.
Under the design, traffic moving from the Serena side towards Rawalpindi will use the underpass, while vehicles heading towards Murree will travel over the top slab.
Two construction firms, Habib Construction Services (HCS) and MS Kamran Khan (Kundi Group), submitted technical bids for the project. During evaluation, the CDA declared Kundi Group non-responsive, prompting the firm to file a grievance with the authority.
Officials said financial bids cannot be opened until the complaint is resolved.
A CDA official said the authority’s committee would decide on the grievance within five days. If the complaint is upheld, financial bids from both companies will be opened; if rejected, Kundi Group retains the option to escalate the matter to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). The official added that the matter would be resolved within 15 days regardless of the outcome.
Both firms have a track record with the CDA. Kundi Group has completed projects including the IJP service road and Faizabad loop expansion, with other sector development works either finished or under way. HCS has completed several mega projects over the past two years, including the Serena Interchange, Murree Road underpass, T-Chowk Flyover and Shaheen Chowk underpass.
A CDA engineer dismissed suggestions of controversy surrounding the bidding process, describing the grievance as a routine procedural step available to any company declared non-responsive.
Separately, the CDA is planning another underpass at the junction of Faisal Avenue and Margalla Road, with the PC-I for the project currently being finalised ahead of the tendering process. An engineer said the final design would determine traffic flow patterns, noting that traffic on Margalla Road had already improved significantly following the completion of the Shaheen Chowk underpass.
With these two projects under way, the CDA has undertaken a record number of road infrastructure schemes over the past two years. However, the federally funded 10th Avenue project remains stalled, with roughly half the work still incomplete more than a year after work stopped. Originally scheduled for completion in 2024, neither the federal government nor the CDA has taken steps to resume it.
