SARGODHA, March 3: MNA Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema has said that the Sial Mor motorway interchange would be fully functional in a year, although it would be temporarily opened next month.

He said that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali had approved the interchange on a request made by him and MNA Chaudhry Ghias Ahmed Mela and allocated Rs62.5 million for the purpose.

It was learnt that Sial Mor and Salim interchanges were included in the initial site plan for the motorway, but the Nawaz Sharif government was politically pressurized to construct an interchange at Kot Momen instead.

The Kot Momen interchange is situated off the route a few kilometres away from Sial Mor. On the other hand, the one at Sial Mor would be very much linked to Sargodha and even some towns and villages in the Jhang district.

In the era of Benazir Bhutto, an interchange was approved at Bhera, a 10-minute drive from Salim. It was constructed by the Nawaz Sharif government and named the Pir Karam Al Azhari Interchange, but it was renamed Bhera later on.

After construction of the Sial Mor interchange, travel time between Sargodha and Lahore will be reduced by half an hour and people saved travel on a bumpy road from Sial Mor to the Pindi Bhatian interchange.