To ease traffic congestion at the main square of the garrison city, the Punjab government has launched the long-awaited Kutchery Chowk remodeling project at a cost of Rs14 billion, on which 30 per cent work has been completed and the project is likely to be ready by June 30.

Four roads connect Kutchery Chowk with Islamabad - Rawat route via Grand Trunk Road, the motorway via Peshawar Road, inner city Raja Bazaar via Rashid Minhas Road and Koral Chowk via the old Airport Road.

The district courts, district and divisional offices, district police offices and all offices of the civil and military bureaucracy are located in the area.

Basically, two flyovers and three underpasses are being constructed at three spots simultaneously to manage more than 250,000 vehicles daily as part of the Rs30 billion signal-free corridor project.

The Frontier Works Organisation has been given the contract while the Punjab Communication and Works Department is the executing agency. According to officials, Rs5.974 billion is being spent on one of the projects under which a four-lane flyover will be constructed between The Mall and Rashid Minhas Road. The underpass will be 26.5 wide and will provide access from the old Airport Road to Saddar. The total traffic count in this section of the road is 197,000 vehicles per day.

Moreover, Rs4.672 billion is being spent on Annexy Chowk or Jinnah Park flyover and underpass to manage 142,035 vehicles daily. The flyover will be built between Mushtaq Baig Shaheed Road and the old Airport Road. There will also be an underpass from Kutchery Chowk to Mushtag Baig Shaheed Road.

The single barrel two-lane underpass worth Rs2.688 billion will be constructed to manage 146,252 vehicles daily from Iftikhar Janjua Road to Kutchery Chowk. It will be 18 feet high and 26.25 feet wide.

Long-awaited project

From 2010 to 2025, a number of plans were formulated. The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) also made a plan but work could not be launched mainly due to the difficulty to manage traffic during the construction work.

However, the Punjab government appointed the Communication and Works Department as the executing agency and finally launched the project. The main square of the garrison city has been closed and traffic was diverted to alternative roads.

“It is a tricky project as work has been started at three sites simultaneously. So far, 30 per cent work has been completed and the mega project is likely to complete by June 30,” said Masab Ali, Superintending Engineer of the Highway Department.

He said that land had been acquired from District Courts, Fatima Jinnah Women University, tax offices, commissioner’s office and Jinnah Park and military land is also slated for use.

When contacted, Punjab Highway Department Executive Engineer Rana Qamar Saqib said the government had released Rs3.5 billion and more funds will be received soon.

He said the project was likely to complete in the stipulated time as the contractor - FWO - was working in day and night shifts. He said travel time on Peshawar Road from Kutchery and Nur Khan Airbase was more than an hour and the government had decided to reduce it to 20 minutes by constructing a signal-free corridor.

He said the local administration would run public transport from Kutchery Chowk to the motorway and Islamabad International Airport once the project was completed.

On the other hand, residents have expressed the hope that the project would be completed on time to resolve traffic issues in the city. They said commuters were suffering a lot due to non-repair of the alternative roads by the Rawalpindi Development Authority, Chaklala Cantonment Board and the District Council.

Traffic from Soan bridge to the airport is using Bostan Khan Road from Lahore High Court to Chaklala Scheme-III, but the road is in poor shape with potholes developed on it as the RDA and District Council failed to repair it before the start of the mega project.

Jhanda Chichi Road from the old Airport Road to Rashid Minhas Road falls under the administrative control of Chaklala Cantonment Board but this road was also not repaired. During the recent visit of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, the District Council and Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation carried out patchworks on the road but after just two days the potholes started reappearing.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2025