NHA modifies Sambrial-Kharian Motorway’s alignment

An expansion of the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (M-11), the Sambrial-Kharian Motorway, is now being built in Gujrat, although the National Highway Authority (NHA) has reportedly changed the alignment of the road.

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The site plan for two bridges across the River Chenab connecting the Gujrat and Sialkot districts was met with opposition from the Irrigation Department. The NHA and local government officials subsequently confirmed the revised layout. Damage to the Chenab bridges that support the Marala Headworks, the Sialkot Airport, and the Motorway was predicted by the model analysis.

Due to a shift in alignment in the Sambrial and Gujrat tehsils of the Sialkot and Gujrat districts, the new design moves the bridge construction site downstream by at least 5 km.

An unnamed Gujrat government official stated that the new bridges will be built in close proximity to Jalalpur Jattan, parallel to the existing Shahbazpur Bridge, and that the road route would pass close to the Sialkot Airport.

Out of the whole 69-kilometer portion of the Motorway, the revised site plan impacts approximately 34-kilometer in Gujrat and Sambrial tehsils. Work on a 35-kilometer section in the tehsils of Gujrat and Kharian has been ongoing for the past year.

Land acquisition plans in at least 17 of Gujrat tehsil’s 28 villages and in around 12 of Sambrial’s 14 villages will need to be updated as a result of the alignment modification. Because of the realignment, the planned location of the Jalalpur Jattan interchange has also changed.