GUJRAT: The construction of the service road on both sides of the main GT Road in Kharian city has been facing an inordinate delay due to the hurdles being created allegedly by the owners of some commercial plazas and delay in removal of the electricity poles, trees and other services along the route since long.

The idea of the project, costing around Rs280m, was conceived by the National Highway Authority (NHA) in 2008 and the then federal government approved it. The locals had been demanding either a flyover or the service roads along the GT Road to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in the city.

However, the execution of the project is yet to get accelerated despite its approval and allocation of funds, said an official of the local administration, who added that the 4km long service road on both sides of the GT Road had now been reduced to 3.5km.

As per the project’s design, the service road has to be built right from the main entry gate of Kharian Cantt to Thapla towards Sara-i-Alamgir after passing through the GT Road.

A source in the local administration said that the owners of the big shopping plazas and commercial centres located on both sides of the GT Road were creating various hurdles in the execution of the project to avoid the devaluation and reduction in the businesses of their plazas.

Moreover, he said the NHA too had leased out a chunk of land on the right of way particularly on the main city side of the GT Road whereas the removal of structures and services like electric poles, trees and other such things could not be made so far, causing an inordinate delay in the project’s completion.

A senior official of the NHA told Dawn that Rs35.7m had already been paid to the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) for removal of electric poles whereas the forest department also demanded a sum of Rs15m for cutting of trees along the route.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023