RAWALPINDI: The long wait of residents came to an end on Monday night as Kutchery Chowk, rena med Marka-i-Haq Square, finally opened for traffic, a day after its inauguration.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz inaugurated the two flyovers and three underpasses on Sunday afternoon. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) organised a special ceremony and arranged a fireworks display, celebrating the opening of the remodelled square for public use.

Under the Kutchery Chowk Remodeling Project worth Rs19 billion, two flyovers and three underpasses have been constructed to manage more than 250,000 vehicles daily.

According to officials, a four-lane flyover has been constructed between The Mall and Rashid Minhas Road. The underpass is 26.5 feet wide and provides access from the old Airport Road to Saddar.

Citizens demand govt to repair roads damaged during reconstruction of the main square

The total traffic flow in this section is 197,000 vehicles per day. Moreover, the Annexy Chowk, or Jinnah Park, flyover and underpass are designed to manage 142,035 vehicles daily.

There is also an underpass from Kutchery Chowk to Mushtaq Baig Shaheed Road. A single-barrel, two-lane underpass has been constructed to manage 146,252 vehicles daily from Iftikhar Janjua Road to Kutchery Chowk. It is 18 feet high and 26.25 feet wide.

A senior official of Punjab Communication and Works department told Dawn that several works, including lane marking, lighting, road shoulders and U-turns, were pending but had been completed by Monday morning. However, he said some works were yet to be completed like drainage systems from Punjab Highway Department offices on Rashid Minhas Road to RPO house on Sir Syed Road.

For the last seven months, people had been facing problems as Kutchery Chowk -- known as the gateway to the garrison city -- serves as the entry and exit point for traffic in the area.

During its remodeling, traffic was diverted to alternative bumpy roads such as Ch. Bostan Khan Road, Jhanda Chichi Road, Ayub Park Road, Chaklala Scheme-III Road. These roads were broken and full of potholes.

The District Council, Chaklala Cantonment Board and Rawalpindi Development Authority did not bother to do even patchwork on these roads in the last seven months.

The residents felt a sigh of relief after the square was opened as it is expected to save fuel costs at a time when fuel prices have reached historic highs in the country.

“Due to rush on alternative roads, we spent more fuel in motorcycles and cars as the administration did not bother to repair the roads before closing the Kutchery Chowk in November,” said Mohammad Bilal, a resident of Chaklala Scheme-III.

Mohammad Akbar, of Gulistan Colony, said that long queues of vehicles were witnessed on the main roads as all traffic was diverted from Fauji Foundation Hospital to Chaklala Scheme-III via Gulistan Colony.

“As petrol has become increasingly dearer, the opening of Kutchery Chowk will help people save fuel. Students especially faced difficulties returning home from schools, colleges and universities on time due to heavy traffic on alternative roads,” said Ahmed Raja, a resident of Nayyar Colony.

On the other hand, the residents of localities around Ch. Boastan Khan Road, Jhanda Chichi Road, Ayub Park Road, Chaklala Scheme-III Road demanded the government repair the roads which had been damaged in the last eight months.

They said that the civic bodies such as the District Council, Chaklala Cantonment Board and Rawalpindi Development Authority collected taxes from the residential and commercial areas but did not bother to repair the roads.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2026