CHAKWAL: Launched twice by two former prime ministers and once by a member of the National Assembly, the most vital road project of Chakwal has been shoved into the pit of uncertainty after the dissolution of the Public Works Department (PWD).

The Punjab government is finding it hard to turn its eye towards the project whose cost has now increased to Rs8 billion.

The Northern Bypass was approved in July 2014 by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif when he visited Chakwal to lay the foundation stone of Mandra-Chakwal Road and Chakwal-Sohawa Road. During the ceremony, former MNA Iffat Liaquat had requested the PM for approving a bypass as both the above-mentioned arteries would attract heavy traffic after becoming dual carriageways, choking the Chakwal city.

To save Chakwal city from the influx of heavy traffic, the PM had approved the 14km Northern Bypass and PWD was assigned to execute the construction work.

Northern Bypass was approved in July 2014 by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif

According to the documents available with Dawn, the initial plan contained a single road branching out from Mandra-Chakwal Road near Daarul Kamal and ending up at Chakwal-Talagang Road near Murid Airbase.

The road was to be built at a cost of Rs1bn and the district administration had also marked land for it. However, the construction work was stopped at the initial stage due to lack of funds. As the PTI came to power in 2018, its MNA Sardar Zulifqar Ali Dullah managed to get the route changed. The altered route was linked to the motorway near Balkassar Interchange hence its length also increased to 22km. Under the altered plan, the road was also made dual carriageway which also increased the initial cost of Rs1bn to Rs3.876bn.

MNA Dullah launched the altered route in March 2019. In December 2020, then prime minister Imran Khan also launched the project during his visit to Chakwal.

The work was started on the altered route after its demarcation and land was cleared and excavated to build the foundation. Base and sub-base layers were also laid. However, afterwards the work was left abandoned.

The project was hit with another blow when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif abolished PWD.

“The project has been handed over to Punjab Highway Department but due to delay in the work it now requires Rs8bn which is unlikely to be released yet,” says a senior official of the highway department.

Ironically, making an ad hoc arrangement for heavy traffic, the district administration without floating any tender is busy in making the route trafficable. A contractor was directed to make the existing route smooth by putting soil and levelling it. The culverts which were to be constructed have been filled with soil.

Highway Department Executive Engineer Mohammad Adeel told Dawn that the road was being made trafficable with the funds which his department had under the heads of repairing and maintenance. He added that five to six million rupees would be spent on making the road trafficable.

However, owners of trailers and trucks told Dawn that such a road would not be feasible for heavy vehicles. “Heavy vehicles carrying tonnes of loads could not be plied on such rough roads which would be turned un-trafficable during rains,” Mohammad Tanveer, a leading transporter, said.

On the other hand, scores of farmers whose land has fallen in the route of Northern Bypass are still waiting for compensation.

A former official of PWD told Dawn that PWD had already paid Rs500m for the acquisition of the land in 2020 to the district administration but not a single penny has been paid yet to the farmers.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2025