LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday inaugurated the signal-free Azadi Chowk flyover and an alternative route of new Circular Road.

The project was completed in a record period of 165 days at a cost of Rs5.35 billion. The total length of the flyover interchange is 2.53km and it will benefit 200,000 vehicles daily.

Speaking on the occasion, Shahbaz Sharif said: "We don't want a long march which ruins the people but we will launch a long march to make the country developed and prosperous."

He said after completion of the Azadi Chowk project, national monuments -- Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort and Minar-i-Pakistan -- would be saved from environmental pollution.

He said that Lahore was the city of lively people and the heart of Asia as well as the cultural capital of Pakistan.

He urged the people to jointly make the city a centre of beautiful parks, gardens and flowers.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2014