Most of the roads in Murree town are in a very bad condition due to the use of substandard material by the contractors and poor quality of construction. According to APP correspondent, many portions of the Mall Road, Murree, present a picture of ruins, despite the fact that these roads were constructed a few weeks ago while construction of some roads is yet to be completed.
The Mall near Murree GPO has been badly damaged and there are big broken patches, reflecting the poor quality of construction work. Roads of Murree had been dug up for laying of gas pipeline about one and a half year back. This work was scheduled to be complete before the summer season but there is little hope of their early completion.
The most alarming issue is the quality of work. A sum of Rs 45 million was allocated for construction of the roads in Murree city and a big amount was spent on the construction and repair work of the roads of Murree Town from public funds but due to substandard work cracks appeared at many places. The repair work of Upper Jhika Gali has been left uncompleted by the contractor for unknown reasons.
Murree-Kuldana road, Governor House-Jhika Gali Road, Imtiaz Shaheed Road and many other roads have either not been repaired or have been repaired carelessly with substandard material.
Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Company (SNGPL) provided sufficient funds to TMA, Murree, and Punjab Highway, which were demanded by the TMA and Punjab Highway for construction of the roads which were dug up for laying of gas pipelines. It is been learnt that about Rs 2.5 million was provided to TMA by PTCL for repair of roads which were dug up for laying telephones cable. The repair work carried out by Punjab Highway is also of very poor quality. The delay in road repair work spoiled seasonal business in Murree this year.