For the first time, the historic project of construction, expansion and repair of 18,700 kilometers of 1471 roads in Punjab has been launched. The construction of 12,000 kilometers of 1214 roads has been completed, while the construction of 18,700 kilometers of roads will be completed by December. Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif presided over a special meeting regarding the ongoing project of C&W Department in which its performance was reviewed.
It was informed in the meeting that a historic record of timely utilization of 97 percent of funds for construction and repair of roads in Punjab has been set. Roads worth Rs 600 billion have been constructed and repaired in only Rs 70 billion through adopting effective construction management policy. For the first time, the average cost of C&W road contracts has decreased by 20 percent. It was also unanimously agreed to introduce a digital toll system in Punjab instead of traditional contracting system. 29 roads have been identified under public-private partnership across the province and it has been decided to operate 9 roads through private partnership.
1193 projects for construction and repair of buildings have been completed across the province, while the first phase of construction and repair of health centers has also been completed. Projects for construction of Simli General Hospital, Sahiwal Teaching Hospital and Agriculture Malls in four cities have been completed. PCCI-III projects in Multan, Bahawalpur and Sargodha have been completed, while Garment City Quaid-e-Azam Industrial Park is also nearing completion. Cutting-edge equipment will be introduced in the roads project to maintain construction quality. Newly constructed roads will be checked through Roads Surface Profiler, Ground Penetration Radar and Fast Falling Weight Deflectometer.
The meeting comprehensively reviewed progress being made from Quaid-e-Azam Interchange up to Wagah Tourism Corridor, Pindi Adiala Road Overhead Bridge, GPO Mall Underpass, Kartarpur Corridor projects. The progress on the Multan Vehari Additional Carriageway and Faisalabad Chiniot Road projects was also reviewed. During the next financial year, 313 new schemes for the construction and repair of roads will be started across the province at a cost of Rs 255 billion. The meeting reviewed the Layyah Bhakkar M-3, M-4 Expressway projects. The progress on Dharamah to Kot Chatha, Muzaffargarh to Alipur Head Panjnad, Khanqah Dogran to Sukhekhi, Mianwali to Dadukhel CPEC Interchange, Housing Colony Chowk to Farooqabad and Okara Depalpur Road projects were also reviewed.
In Jhelum district, 190 kilometers, Attock 340, Sargodha 860, Mianwali 220, Bhakkar 570, Gujrat 360 kilometers of roads were repaired. In Mandi Bahauddin district, 230 kilometers, Hafizabad 120, Gujranwala 390, Sialkot 230 and Lahore 40 kilometers of roads projects were completed. In Narowal district, 200 kilometers, Sheikhupura 160 kilometers, Nankana Sahib 190, Sahiwal 280, Pakpattan Sharif 210, Faisalabad 620 roads were constructed. In Jhang district, 370 kilometers, Okara 330, Chiniot 180, Multan 390, Lodhran 140, Khanewal 400 and Vehari 270 kilometers of roads were constructed. Bahawalpur 620 kilometers, Bahawalnagar 450, Rahim Yar Khan 670, Rajanpur 250, DG Khan 605, Muzaffargarh 610 kilometers of roads were completed.
A progress report on the projects of roads and buildings was also presented in the meeting. The Chief Minister directed to complete all ongoing road projects in the current financial year. It was also informed in the briefing that on the direction of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, roads which had not been built in last 30 years have now been started. The general public and their representatives are profoundly happy over seeing the construction and repair of roads in Punjab.
After many decades, attention has been paid to the construction and repair of roads. The Chief Minister said, “The C&W Department is not only constructing roads but are also using the latest machinery to check the quality of construction work.” She lauded the performance of Provincial Minister Sohaib Bharat and Secretary C&W Sohail Ashraf and their entire team.