GUJRAT: The Punjab government’s pledge to construct a much-needed overhead bridge at the busy Shaheen Chowk along the GT Road bypass has become a distant dream as the matter has now been referred to the National Highways Authority (NHA).

Traffic jams, road accidents and scuffles have become a routine at the busiest square along the bypass which is being used as the main route to Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha as well as between Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Even traffic police and the National Highways and Motorways Police (NH&MP) have been unable to take measures to avoid frequent traffic jams at the site. The only solution for smooth flow of traffic suggested by traffic as well as local authorities is the construction of an overhead bridge.

The head of the chief minister’s public affairs committee in Punjab, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, had announced on behalf of the Punjab government construction of the bridge at Shaheen Chowk and he reiterated his pledge several times during his visits to Gujrat as well as during meetings with local party legislators.

A team of experts from the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) had paid few visits to the site for preparing a feasibility report a few months back but no progress had so far been made.

Official sources said at a meeting of the chief minister’s public affairs unit a few weeks ago presided over by Hamza, mega uplift projects proposed for Gujrat district were discussed, including the Shaheen Chowk flyover, and it was decided that the NHA would now be persuaded for its construction.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Liaquat Ali Chattha was asked by the committee to visit the Prime Minister’s Secretariat in Islamabad in pursuance of the project. Now the federal government could be requested to allocate funds besides getting the project executed by the NHA as the Punjab government seemed uninterested.

However, DCO Chattha told Dawn the project had not been shelved as the provincial government was interested in executing it. Due to some technical reasons the federal government had been requested to get it completed through the NHA, he added.

He said initially the flyover was proposed on Gujrat-Sargodha road part of the Shaheen Chowk, but now it would be constructed on N5 of the GT Road bypass on Lahore-Rawalpindi route.

Official sources said now that the project had been referred to the federal government, it could face an inordinate delay as the NH&MP had been persuading the NHA for long to construct the Shaheen Chowk flyover, but to no avail.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2014