Lahore Commissioner Khusru Pervaiz Khan said that a survey was underway for the acquisition of land for the project, following which the government would be in a better position to say how much funding the expansion would require. He said that Bhatta Chowk would be connected to the Ring Road interchange through service lanes.
Bhatta Chowk has become an increasingly busy junction, particularly since the new airport terminal was built. It has been twice expanded in the past, but is in urgent need of further spreading out. There are long traffic queues at the chowk during rush hour, while the traffic lights are not working. It is the only route to the airport from the south side.
Bhatta Chowk is located at the intersection of Ghazi Road, which runs through the Defense Housing Authority down to Ferozepur Road, and Bedian Road, which runs from RA Bazaar through a low income area and then through DHA Phase 5 and Phase 6. These areas have seen rapid development over the last ten years.
The main hurdle to expansion is that the markets which are built at the edge of the intersection would have to be torn down.
The last time that the PML-Nawaz was in power in the Punjab, the government had approved the expansion and issued notices to the shop owners to leave, but then the government was overthrown in a military coup.
In 2009, the expansion of Bhatta Chowk again came up for discussion at various meetings. The original idea was to build a flyover on Ghazi Road, starting from the southern entrance of the DHA and ending half a kilometer from the airport, where the Divine Gardens housing scheme is located. It also envisaged the building of dual carriageways and service lanes on Ghazi Road and Bedian Road, as well as a sewerage system.
But amidst the current financial crunch, the Punjab government has decided to do simply expand the road without building a flyover or underpass. A committee is calculating how much land will be required for the project.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2011.
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