Work is officially underway on some of the city’s most anticipated infrastructure projects, as the Punjab Communication and Works Department has begun preparations for the construction of flyovers and underpasses at Kutchery Chowk and Jinnah Park.
Additionally, retaining walls are being built at Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) and Jinnah Park to make way for service roads and utility shifts.
The combined cost of these major developments stands at Rs 6.6 billion. The Jinnah Park flyover and underpass project alone is estimated at Rs 5.2 billion, while the Iftikhar Janjua underpass is anticipated to cost Rs 2.7 billion. Though large-scale construction is likely to initiate in the first week of November, the provincial highway teams have already broken ground with preparatory work.
Land and Logistics
A significant portion of the land being used comes from military-owned areas. For the Iftikhar Janjua Chowk underpass, around four kanal and five marla of land will be utilised. The Kutchery Chowk flyover and underpass will require about eight kanal and two marla, and the Jinnah Park underpass will stretch across nearly five kanal and 19 marla.
A senior Punjab Highways Department official said old boundary walls at FJWU and Jinnah Park are being demolished to widen roads. These steps will help develop alternate routes while construction is underway.
Tackling Heavy Traffic
Kutchery Chowk is one of the busiest intersections of the city, with an estimated 131,500 vehicles passing through daily—many coming from the old Airport Road and Jhelum Road. The City Traffic Police and district administration are currently developing a traffic diversion plan for the construction phase.
The official added that retaining walls and service road development are expected to finish by November 1, after which final approvals will be sought to hand over the project to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).
Because of the complexity of the work, the contractor has suggested temporarily closing the main square to traffic. Section 4 has already been enforced, and the district price assessment committee is in the process of finalising land acquisition costs. Fortunately, most of the land required is government-owned, keeping private displacement to a minimum.
What’s Next?
Survey teams are in place, drawings are being verified, and pile testing is complete. The Executive Engineer of the Punjab Highway Department, Rana Qamar, ensured that drainage work, wall construction, and service road preparations at FJWU and Jinnah Park have already started. Full-fledged road construction is all ready to begin in the upcoming month.
He also unveiled that work on three additional underpasses—at Race Course Park, Army Graveyard Square, and Chairing Cross on Peshawar Road—may start during the 2025–26 fiscal year. Once these are completed, the main route from Ammar Chowk to the motorway is expected to become entirely signal-free.