MULTAN, Aug 3: The construction of Sarwar and Tareen roads has been going on at a snail’s pace for the last eight months, creating a lot of problems for the residents of areas nearby, motorists and pedestrians of Qadeerabad and other localities.

Shafiq Ahmed Awan, Anjuman-i-Tajran (Chowk Fowara) executive body chairman, says Tareen Road has been under construction since 1996.

At times its construction was stopped as the residents of Qadeerabad demanded its construction after the laying of sewage pipelines.

He said the sewerage project took eleven years to complete and in December 2006, the residents of Qadeerabad, Kiree Afghana and other localities approached the City District Government Multan (CDGM) for the construction of both roads.

He said the city government started work on the roads in December last.

Later, the contractors stopped work after laying gravel on different portions of the roads, which interrupted traffic. He said incomplete work had caused many accidents.

He said the residents had visited the Qadeerabad union council nazim and the city district nazim, Mian Faisal Mukhtar, for the immediate construction of the road but failed to achieve the desired result.

He said Mr Mukhtar told them if they wanted good quality construction, they had to wait because good standard roads were not built in haste.

He said that many motorists had to wear masks while travelling on these roads. In addition, cough and throat-related diseases were on the rise in the areas.

He wanted the Punjab government to take note of the situation and order provision of relief to the people.

Muazzam Kamran Babar, the nazim of the Union Council 39, said the construction of roads had been stopped due to non-availability of funds.

He said that he had raised his voice for the immediate construction of roads many times at many forums but funds could not be arranged.

Muazzam further said the city district nazim had assured him of starting the construction of the roads soon while Wajid Ali Shah, the city district naib nazim, had informed him that funds had been released for the project.

Mr Mukhtar and Mr Shah were not available for comments.