Kahuta Y-Cross. Photo: TikTok
RAWALPINDI:
With the completion of the first six months (July-December) of the federal budget fiscal year 2025-26, work on the Soan-Sihala-Kahuta road project has progressed no more than five per cent due to persistent slowdown, despite the allocation of Rs 23,845 crore.
The route, which provides access via Kahuta to Kotli and Rawalakot in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, is also of strategic importance and has been designated a defense route. Under the project, barely two kilometers of expressway were constructed between Kahuta Y-Cross and Hothla Stop.
Even though six months of the current financial year have passed, progress on the Rawalpindi-Kahuta highway remains extremely slow. At present, only a two-kilometre stretch from Kahuta Y-Cross to Hothla stop has been widened and carpeted to form an expressway, while work on the remaining stretch from Y-Cross to Kahuta town is yet to begin.
It is pertinent to note that the Kahuta road, which extends 28.4 kilometers from Rawalpindi Soan to Kahuta, will be converted into an expressway. However, work at the Hothla stop has come to a standstill and not even signals have been made on the remaining 26.4 kilometres. Similarly, the construction of the flyover bridge at Sihala railway junction is yet to begin.
For this vital route, linked to Azad Kashmir through two separate corridors and which has been accorded the status of defense highway, funds worth Rs 23,845 crore have been allocated in the current federal budget. The project had already been approved by the federal government’s highest forum, ECNEC, on July 27, 2023. However, as work did not begin subsequently, the funds were formally allocated again in the current year’s budget.
Sources said delays in converting the Rawalpindi Soan Camp-Kahuta city stretch into a highway have led to increased traffic pressure on the route, causing major inconvenience to commuters. These delays have led to frequent traffic accidents, long 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 commuters heading from Rawalpindi to Kahuta, Rawalakot and Kotli in Azad Kashmir, and vice versa, continue to face serious difficulties.
Residents maintained that if the Rawalpindi-Kahuta highway was converted into an expressway along with the construction of a flyover bridge at Sihala railway junction, the 40 kilometer journey from Rawalpindi Kachehry to Kahuta Kachehry could be comfortably completed in 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 mega dual carriageway project, said that funding for Package One will be provided by the Punjab government, and work will begin immediately after receiving the funds.
Work on Package Two, which falls under the jurisdiction of the NHA, is currently underway and is expected to accelerate before the end of the current financial year.
The spokesperson added that only Rs 800 crore has been released for the project during the current financial year, and work on Package One, according to the PC-I, is conditional on the release of funds by the Punjab government.
