A federal audit has flagged a serious design flaw in the underpass of Islamabad’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan Interchange — the busy Jinnah Avenue crossing named in honour of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — warning that its geometry poses a safety risk to motorists.
The finding comes from a report by the Auditor General of Pakistan, numbered DGAWF-26-002, covering the audit year 2025-26 and the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25. Auditors examined the interchange at the crossing of 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue and found that its underpass loop takes a sharp turn of roughly 45 degrees before running straight into a solid concrete wall.
Key facts at a glance:
- Audit report: DGAWF-26-002, covering audit year 2025-26 and FY 2023-24/2024-25
- Flaw found: a roughly 45-degree sharp turn in the underpass loop, facing a solid concrete wall
- Design speed built: 30 km/h — half the 60 km/h required by the feasibility study
- Audit’s verdict: gross negligence and professional misconduct by the design consultant
- Possible recovery: CDA can claim damages of up to twice the consultant’s design fee
- Status: CDA’s Departmental Audit Committee is reviewing the consultant’s clarification
What the Audit Found
More concerning than the sharp turn itself, the audit said, is the speed the loop was actually engineered for. It was built for a maximum of 30 km/h, even though the project’s own feasibility study — titled “Resolving Traffic Congestion Issues at Crossing of 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue/Ibn-e-Sina Road” — had specified a 60 km/h design speed and required the geometric design to follow standard highway and transportation safety codes.
The audit concluded that this mismatch violates basic transportation engineering principles and creates a genuine risk for vehicles using the interchange. It described the lapse as gross negligence and professional misconduct on the part of the project’s design consultant.
Consultant’s Liability and CDA’s Next Steps
Under CDA’s consultancy agreement for the project, the design consultant was contractually required to deliver work free of proven faults or errors. The agreement allows CDA to recover losses or damages tied to design negligence — up to twice the consultant’s total design fee.
The matter came up at a Departmental Audit Committee (DAC) meeting on January 8, 2026, where CDA management told the committee that the contractor had submitted a detailed clarification addressing the project’s geometry and safety measures. The committee has since directed CDA management to forward the consultant’s report to the Audit department once it clears the CDA chairman’s approval — meaning a final determination on the design flaw is still pending.
A Familiar Pattern: The Bhara Kahu Bypass Precedent
This is not the first time a CDA road project has drawn this kind of scrutiny. Earlier audit reports on CDA’s Bhara Kahu Bypass project along Murree Road raised strikingly similar process concerns: the absence of third-party design verification, failure to run the International Roughness Index (IRI) test that checks road surface quality, procurement violations, and gaps in construction and traffic safety compliance.
Other Financial Irregularities in the Same Audit
The DGAWF-26-002 report extends well beyond the interchange, listing several financial and procurement irregularities across CDA’s operations during the audit period.
| Issue Flagged | Amount Involved | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Solid waste disposal contract | Rs. 411.776 million paid | Originally valued at Rs. 95.191 million, later extended |
| Sector C-15 development contracts | Rs. 1,587.049 million | Awarded irregularly, per the audit |
| F-10 roundabout works | Rs. 341 million | Unjustified payment for work outside the approved project scope |
| Capital Hospital oxygen plant maintenance | Rs. 7.134 million | Unauthorized expenditure; contract had expired with no fresh open bidding |
Auditors said these cases reflect poor contract management, weak compliance with procurement rules, and unauthorized use of public funds. The same report also pointed to wider governance gaps at CDA and the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), including the non-preparation of mandatory annual financial statements and the unauthorised use of CDA’s Endowment Fund for general expenses — suggesting the financial oversight concerns extend well beyond this one project.
About the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Interchange
The interchange sits at the junction of 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad’s F-8/F-9 sector and comprises a flyover and an underpass built to ease one of the capital’s most congested crossings — a junction that previously carried an estimated 41,000 vehicles a day. It was named after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Pakistan in February 2025, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Erdogan jointly unveiled a plaque marking the honour. The completed interchange was then formally opened to traffic on February 18, 2025, in a ceremony attended by the Turkish ambassador to Pakistan, with the project delivered in a record 84 days and its 1.3-km underpass alone completed in just 42 days. Officials said the finished project cost around Rs. 3.66 billion, below its original Rs. 4 billion budget.
The interchange has faced public attention before. In mid-2025, images and videos circulating on social media claimed that a link road at the interchange had developed potholes or partially collapsed after heavy rain. CDA disputed the claims at the time, saying the visible work was part of a scheduled, routine maintenance programme rather than a structural failure. By December 2025, commuters using the junction were largely reporting smoother traffic flow at the crossing — before the design concerns now raised by the latest audit became public.
What Happens Next
With the Departmental Audit Committee awaiting the consultant’s formal report, CDA’s next move will determine whether the authority pursues financial recovery from the design consultant under the negligence clause, or orders remedial changes to the underpass loop itself. Until a decision is made, the underpass — one of the most visible pieces of infrastructure tied to Pakistan-Turkey relations — remains open to traffic.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Interchange? It is the interchange at the junction of 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad’s F-8/F-9 sector, made up of a flyover and an underpass. It was named after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his February 2025 visit to Pakistan and formally opened to traffic on February 18, 2025.
What did the CDA audit find about the underpass? The audit found that the underpass loop has a sharp turn of around 45 degrees leading directly to a solid concrete wall, and that it was built for a maximum speed of 30 km/h — half the 60 km/h speed required by the project’s feasibility study.
What is audit report DGAWF-26-002? It is a report from the Directorate General Audit Works (Federal), a wing of the Auditor General of Pakistan, covering the audit year 2025-26 and financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 for CDA’s operations, including this interchange project.
Who is being held responsible for the design flaw? The audit places responsibility on the project’s design consultant, calling the issue gross negligence and professional misconduct. CDA’s consultancy agreement allows it to recover damages of up to twice the consultant’s design fee if the negligence is confirmed.
Has CDA responded to the audit’s findings? Yes. At a Departmental Audit Committee meeting on January 8, 2026, CDA management said the contractor had submitted a detailed clarification on the project’s geometry and safety measures. The committee has directed CDA to submit the consultant’s report to Audit once it is approved by the CDA chairman.
Is this the first time CDA has faced this kind of audit concern? No. Similar concerns were raised in earlier audits of CDA’s Bhara Kahu Bypass project on Murree Road, which cited the absence of third-party design verification, failure to conduct International Roughness Index testing, and other procurement and safety lapses.
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