GUJRAT: The local administration identified at least 23 major roads across the district for maintenance and repair and sought funds from the Punjab government.

An official of local administration, privy to the development schemes, told Dawn the funds had been sought for maintenance of the main arteries connecting various small towns and rural areas of the district. For instance, he said, the 37km long Kharian Cantt to Jalalpur Jattan road, 36km long Gujrat-Fatehpur-Awan Sharif road, Sara-i-Alamgir-Kotla-Jalalpur Sobtian road, Jalalpur Jattan road to University of Gujrat UoG road, Bhimbher Road, Gujrat-Shadiwal-Jokalian-Phalia road and others had been included in the list of the 23 roads that needed repair. He added that though the roads had been identified by the highways department, the input of recently elected lawmakers, particularly of the MPAs, had been taken.

Another source said funds worth Rs1.5bn were needed for the maintenance of these roads but the government had not yet approved the funds. He said in case of further delay in repair, these roads might further deteriorate.

Meanwhile, the highways department has also launched the patchwork on a 13km long portion of the GT Road after cracks appeared on various portions of the road built just a couple of years ago.

Both the contractor firms that had built the road have been assigned the task to do the patchwork after cracks appeared at different portions.

The department has also started the repair work on the city’s Rehman Shaheed road’s portion from Shadman Colony to Swedish College at Servis Mor as that portion was dug up to lay down the sewerage in Oct 2022 but the scheme was delayed due to some technical reasons. The said portion has been a headache for the motorists since then.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2024