Punjab to improve existing roads

Lahore: The Punjab government is giving due attention to widening and improvement of existing roads besides construction of new roads with an aim to achieve consolidation and up gradation of existing road network in the province.

According to official sources, 156 schemes for widening and improvement of about 500 km length of roads from the present pavement widths of 10 or 12 feet to 20 or 24 feet will be completed during the current fiscal year.

In addition to this, work for construction of 150 km new roads is also in progress to cater for either missing links or augmenting present road network.

The sources said that new roads are being constructed with an aim to ensuring additional corridors for socio-economic development and linking far-flung areas. In recent years, overall demand for road transport has grown at 7 to 8 percent per year which surpasses average GDP growth rate over the last decade.

According to official sources, expansion in road network mainly owes to large increase in traffic, population densities as roads are predominant mode of transport in the country carrying more than 90 percent of the passenger and freight traffic with an average growth rate of 4.5 percent and 10.5 percent respectively.

The sources said the ever increasing demand for additional road links in the province has intensified needs to augment existing road densities to vary from 0.34km /sq km in the south zone to 0.58 km/sq.km in the north zone. Though the provincial road sector is mainly responsible for consolidating and maintaining the existing inter-district roads, yet it continues to cater for the rural access road demand.