GUJRAT: The construction work on a 45-kilometre long road connecting Hafizabad and Wazirabad districts with Gujrat -- the newly-created divisional headquarters -- is about to start as the contract has been awarded to a firm.

A sum of Rs8.2 billion will be spent on the project which is about to start right from the under-construction campus of the University of Hafizabad up to Khanki headworks touching the border of Gujrat district from where a 19-kilometre long road is already being built up to Machiana village which is the proposed site for divisional complex of Gujrat.

The existing small road along the Lower Chenab Canal (LCC) bank will be carpeted and widened up to 44 feet to improve the connectivity between Hafizabad district and newly-created Alipur Chattha tehsil of Wazirabad district with the divisional headquarters.

Hafizabad Deputy Commissioner Tauqeer Illyas Cheema told Dawn over telephone that the scheme was near the execution phase after passing through the tendering process. He said the 20-kilometre portion of the road was located in Hafizabad and 25 kilometres in Alipur Chattha tehsil of Wazirabad district and it would improve the road connectivity between three districts of Gujrat division.

He said the distance from Hafizabad to Gujrat divisional complex was around 64 kilometres and carpeting and widening would reduce the travel time between these cities. Moreover, he said, the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway’s (M2) Khanqa Dogran junction was just 20 kilometres away from the starting point of this road in Hafizabad due to which the travellers towards western side of the motorway could use that route for an easy access.

The Punjab government had created Gujrat division in August last after bifurcation of six districts of Gujranwala division with the inclusion of Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad districts in the 10th divisional headquarters of the province. Later, Wazirabad tehsil too was upgraded to the level of a district and it was included in Gujrat division as its fourth district.

Initially, the ruling PTI lawmakers from Hafizabad had agitated against the inclusion of their district in Gujrat division as they wanted to remain part of Gujranwala division.

However, sources said, PML-Q leader MNA Moonis Elahi persuaded these disgruntled elements and assured them of a better connectivity as well as a good package for the uplift of their constituencies after which their annoyance was reduced and efforts were being made to provide better uplift facilities to that district.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2022