Chairman, National Highway Authority (NHA), Major General Farrukh Javed on Saturday said the expansion work of G. T. Road from Qasim Market Chowk to Al-Shifa Hospital including 'Kutchery Chowk' will be completed within one year.
Speaking in a PTV programme, he said this section would be made a three-lane road and work on this project is going on.
He said G. T. Road up to Qasim Market, which passes through Rawalpindi Cantt area from Peshawar side, has already been expanded.
He said, NHA is striving for users' friendly roads and work is underway across the country.
He said, NHA has nearly 9,000-kilometer long road network across the country, out of which about 34 percent spread in Balochistan, 24 percent in Punjab and nearly 17-18 percent in Sindh and NWFP.
Farrukh Javed said out of total transport which runs on country roads, nearly 80 percent traffic runs on the road network of NHA.
Elaborating further he said, out of this traffic load, about 65 percent traffic load is only on GT Road.
Replying to a question, he said at present, our special attention is towards N-5, which touches three provinces, NWFP, Punjab and Sindh. He said, under a national highway improvement programme, a project has been initiated and about Rs 15 billion would be spent on this within next four years for the repairing work of 856 kilometer long roads.
He said, improvement and development work on national highways is being done with full speed. Multan to Chechawatni road is being rebuilt. Sahiwal to Lahore has been rebuilt. Gujranawala to Lahore road will also be made a six-lane and work on this project will be started soon, he added.
He further said that GT Road up to Rawalpindi and Peshawar is being improved in different phases.