Key road project stalls despite heavy funding

Only 2km of dual carriageway completed between Kahuta Y-Cross, Hothla Stop

RAWALPINDI:

With the completion of the first six months (July-December) of the fiscal year 2025-26 of the federal budget, work on the Soan-Sihala-Kahuta Road project has progressed by no more than five per cent due to a persistent slowdown, despite the allocation of Rs23.845 billion.

The route, which provides access via Kahuta to Kotli and Rawalakot in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, also holds strategic importance and has been designated a defence route. Under the project, barely two kilometres of a dual carriageway have been constructed between Kahuta Y-Cross and Hothla Stop.

Despite the passage of six months of the current financial year, progress on the Rawalpindi-Kahuta Road remains extremely slow. At present, only a two-kilometre stretch from Kahuta Y-Cross to Hothla Stop has been widened and carpeted to form a dual carriageway, while work on the remaining section from Y-Cross to Kahuta city has yet to commence.

It is pertinent to note that the Kahuta Road, stretching 28.4 kilometres from Rawalpindi Soan to Kahuta, is to be converted into a dual carriageway. However, work has stalled at Hothla Stop, and no marking has even been carried out for the remaining 26.4 kilometres. Similarly, construction of the overhead bridge at the Sihala railway crossing has yet to begin.

For this vital route — linked to Azad Kashmir through two separate corridors and accorded the status of a defence road — funds amounting to Rs23.845 billion were allocated in the current federal budget. The project had earlier been approved by the federal government's highest forum, ECNEC, on July 27, 2023. However, as work did not commence thereafter, funds were formally allocated again in the current year's budget.

Sources said that delays in converting the Rawalpindi Soan Camp-Kahuta city stretch into a dual carriageway have resulted in increasing traffic pressure on the route, causing significant inconvenience to commuters. These delays have led to frequent road accidents, extended travel times, disruptions to business activities, and difficulties in reaching key offices on time. Long queues of vehicles regularly form when the Sihala railway crossing is closed, while travellers heading from Rawalpindi to Kahuta, Rawalakot, and Kotli in Azad Kashmir — and vice versa — continue to face serious hardships.

Residents maintained that if the Rawalpindi-Kahuta Road were upgraded to a dual carriageway along with the construction of an overhead bridge at the Sihala railway crossing, the 40-kilometre journey from Rawalpindi Kachehry to Kahuta Kachehry could be completed comfortably within 30 to 40 minutes. This, they added, would also ensure uninterrupted and timely travel for traffic heading towards Azad Kashmir beyond Kahuta.

Separately, an NHA spokesperson, commenting on the delay in the Soan-Kahuta dual carriageway mega project, said that funding for Package One is to be provided by the Punjab government, and work will commence immediately upon receipt of the funds.

Work on Package Two, which falls under the NHA's jurisdiction, is currently underway and is expected to be accelerated before the end of the current financial year.

The spokesperson added that only Rs800 million has been released for the project during the ongoing financial year, and that work on Package One, as per the PC-I, is conditional upon the release of funds by the Punjab government.