Secretary Communication Sajid Hussain Chatta along with Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) on Friday inspected the rehabilitation of Lahore-Gujranwala being upgraded to six lanes. The project being executed with the assistance of World Bank (WB) would take the cost of Rs 5 billion.
The project consists of 50km road on either side, 24 pedestrian underpasses, five underpasses for traffic, one fly-over, 46 bridges, 48 culverts, 35km service road with fencing and 35km R.C.C drain to protect the road in heavy monsoon and maintain the smooth flow of traffic.
Sajid Hussain took serious notice of the slow pace of the project and instructed that the project must be completed as per the stipulated time. It was decided in a high level meeting chaired by Secretary Communication and Chairman NHA to oversee the progress of the project.
In the meeting the contractor M/s Hussain Cotex and Consultant M/s SMEC assured that the section from Chand Ka Killa to Kamoke will be completed by the end of March this year and the section from Kamoke to Muridke excluding municipal area will be completed by the end of May 2008. Apart from this, Secretary Communication and Chairman NHA jointly decided to assign a National Highway and Motorway Police contingent to co-ordinate with the contractor and facilitate the smooth flow of traffic. It was also decided to visit the same project soon.
It was noted that the contractor is carrying out his best efforts using the latest equipment's in the present environment where there is high traffic on the contrary of contractor facing difficulty in procuring, availability of bitumen, steel and cement in the country.