Mailsi highway in a shambles

Deep potholes, broken stretches on 36-km road behind frequent crashes

MAILSI:

The main highway linking Tibba Sultanpur to Mailsi has fallen into disrepair, leading to surge in traffic accidents and causing extensive damage to vehicles, residents and commuters said.

The approximately 36-kilometre-long Mailsi-Multan main road, stretching from Tibba Sultanpur via Dokota to Mailsi, is riddled with deep potholes and broken patches, making daily travel extremely difficult.

In several sections, potholes have reportedly reached depths of up to one-and-a-half to two feet, posing serious and often life-threatening risks to motorists.

Local social figures, including Muhammad Usman Akram, Muhammad Zeeshan, Majeed Hassan and Hafiz Muhammad Jafar, along with other area residents, were of the view that the dilapidated condition of the road has disrupted routine mobility and increased the frequency of accidents.

Passenger vehicles, motorcyclists and both passenger and freight transport are regularly affected.

Local residents further pointed out that the situation becomes even more dangerous at night, when visibility is low and the potholes are harder to detect, resulting in frequent accidents that have claimed lives and caused serious injuries.

Residents said that in the absence of government action, they have been forced to take temporary measures by filling potholes with soil at their own expense in an attempt to reduce accidents.

They described the road as the most important artery of Mailsi tehsil, carrying the heaviest traffic flow in the area.

Despite its significance, they alleged that both local political representatives and the Punjab government have failed to act on what they termed an urgent public safety issue.

According to local residents, following last year's budget, political representatives had announced that reconstruction of the road would begin soon.

However, they said the project remains confined to paperwork, with no practical work initiated so far.

Sources in the Highway Department said that approximately 7,000 vehicles pass through the Tibba Sultanpur–Mailsi road daily, highlighting the heavy traffic burden on the deteriorating infrastructure.

Despite this pressure, delays in reconstruction and rehabilitation have added to public hardship and raised questions about administrative and political performance.

Highway Department sources further said that a proposal is currently under consideration to reconstruct the first phase of the road, covering a 19-kilometre stretch from Tibba Sultanpur to Dokota, at an estimated cost of around Rs1.5 billion.

However, the plan has yet to move beyond the Punjab Highways documentation stage.

Meanwhile, Punjab Highways Executive Engineer Umair Latif has said that progress on the road construction project is moving forward, with a crucial meeting scheduled for next Tuesday at the head office of the Communication and Works (C&W) Department in Lahore.