GUJRAT: At least 40 kilometres long road linking Gujrat city with the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) will be rehabilitated by the Punjab government.

A senior official of the local administration told Dawn that the Kashmir Road (previously known as Bhimbher Road) would be rehabilitated right from the Kutchery Chowk in Gujrat city up to the border of Azad Kahsmir’s bhimbher district.

He said the scheme had been included in the current fiscal year’s annual development programme of the province but its execution was yet to be initiated.

A sum of Rs1.67 billion has been allocated as an estimated cost of the project.

Though the scheme to dualise the Kashmir road had been proposed in 2018 by the then PML-N lawmakers from the area, the incumbent government has approved the rehabilitation of this 40kms long road.

The Gujrat-Kashmir road may also become an approach road for the people of Gujrat city to reach Kharian-Sambrial motorway which is an extention of Lahore-Sialkot Motorway M-11 as Kharian motorway is being built over the Kashmir road and Daulatnagar interchange is only a few kilometers away from the Kashmir road.

Another 50 kilometers long road locating within the limits of Gujrat district and connecting at least its three towns with each other, will also be rehabilitated at the cost of Rs1.5bn and the Punjab government has approved the scheme in its current ADP.

The 50 kms long road connecting Sara-i-Alamgir-Kotla and Jalalpur Sobtian towns of Gujrat district will be rehabilitated to provide a better road link between the rural and urban localities of those towns and surroundings.

The district administration and elected representatives have also proposed the reconstruction of at least 18 major arteries of the district but the allocation of funds and execution of these schemes is yet to be made.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2024