GUJRAT: A 29km expressway connecting Gujrat city with Kharian-Sambrial motorway will be built at a cost of about Rs8bn to Rs10bn.

A senior official said fencing of expressway would transform it into a mini-motorway as it was being designed as per the Faisalabad section of motorway that was linked with Lahore-Islamabad motorway.

PML-Q leader MNA Moonis Elahi had demanded the project to link the Gujrat city with the motorway from the then prime minister Imran Khan last year on the launch of Kharian motorway project.

The federal government had agreed to give a direct link to Gujrat; however, the PTI government was ousted earlier this year.

When Chaudhry Parvez Elahi became the chief minister, the local business fraternity started demanding execution of the project from the resources of Punjab government.

Sources said the Punjab government had approved the project and the acquisition of land and construction of dual carriageway had been planned to be followed by fencing of the road.

They said the foundation stone of the project would be laid by the end of September and work was being done by the departments concerned.

As per the plan, the expressway will start from the GT Road. Gurali village could be the starting point of the project, which would be connected to the motorway from Lakhanwal.

The National Highways Authority (NHA) has already launched the construction work for Kharian-Sambrial motorway right from GT Road in Kharian in July and the stipulated time of the motorway project’s completion is two years.

The 69km long portion of Kharian-Sambrial motorway is an extension of Lahore-Sialkot motorway (M-11). The Kharian- Islamabad portion of the motorway project has also been approved but it has not been launched yet.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2022