Lahore–Sahiwal–Bahawalnagar motorway: route, status and what it means for property

The Lahore–Sahiwal–Bahawalnagar motorway route starts at the Lahore Ring Road near Haloki Interchange, on the stretch between Ferozepur Road and Raiwind Road, not on Ferozepur Road itself. It runs 295 km: 220 km to the N-5 near Kassuwal, plus a 75 km branch to Bahawalnagar. ECNEC approved the project at Rs407bn in August 2026, but only the first 18.5 km, to Raja Jang Interchange, has federal funding (Rs49bn), and the rest has no secured financing yet.

ECNEC is the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, which approves large federal projects. NHA, the National Highway Authority, builds the motorway. Every fact below comes from the Planning Commission, the Punjab PPP Authority, state media, named newspapers and news sites, with dates.

What is the Lahore-Sahiwal-Bahawalnagar motorway route?

The 2024 project plan (PC-1), as described by the Planning Commission, has two sections. Section 1 is a six-lane motorway that passes near Jedu, Watna, Rao Khan Wala, Bhimke, Chunian, Allahabad, Shergarh, Hujra Shah Muqeem, Depalpur, Okara, Sahiwal, Chichawatni and Harappa. Section 2 is a four-lane branch that passes near Pakpattan and Arifwala and crosses the Sutlej.

In March 2025 ECNEC sent the sections beyond package-I back to NHA for re-alignment to join an existing motorway. ECNEC’s August 2026 approval kept the original 295 km alignment, following a Prime Minister’s directive of March 2026, so we follow that route.

Where does the motorway start in Lahore?

It starts on the Lahore Ring Road, not on Ferozepur Road. The Punjab PPP Authority (P4A) describes the Ring Road’s Southern Loop in two parts: SL-I (9.35 km) runs from Sui Gas Town to Gajjumatta Interchange on Ferozepur Road. SL-II (13 km) runs from Gajjumatta to Raiwind Road, passing near Islampura and Halloki, and P4A gives 12 December 2017 as the commercial operation date for both.

The motorway leaves SL-II near Haloki. The name is spelled Haloki by the Planning Commission, Halloki by P4A and Hallok by the Planning Minister. We use the Planning Commission’s spelling because its project document is the official source on the motorway.

The first package ends at an interchange that sources call Raja Jang, Raja Jhang, Raiwind-Kasur Road or Mir Muhammad Interchange. These are the same place, on Kasur Road. We use Raja Jang, the name in the August 2026 approval reports.

Which interchanges are on the Lahore-Sahiwal-Bahawalnagar motorway?

Official documents name only these points:

• Haloki (Lahore Ring Road): the starting point.
• Raja Jang Interchange: the end of package-I, 18.5 km from the Ring Road.
• Bhimke-Chunian Road: the end of a second 33 km package in the 2024 PC-1.
• Near Depalpur: where the Bahawalnagar branch leaves.
• N-5 near Kassuwal and Michanabad-Bahawalnagar Road: the two ends.

We found no full interchange list and no “M-17” name in any official source. Some lists online give 16 interchanges, but we couldn’t match them to an official source, so we leave them out.

Lahore-Sahiwal motorway latest update: what has happened so far?

Approvals before 2026 were partial, and the quoted cost has changed several times. The table shows each step with its source date.

CDWP is the Central Development Working Party, the Planning Commission body that reviews projects before ECNEC. PSDP is the federal government’s yearly development budget. We couldn’t check the PSDP 2026-27 document itself for the Rs2bn link road.

How is the motorway funded?

We follow the latest figure: Rs407bn for the whole project, of which Rs49bn is for package-I, approved by ECNEC in August 2026. The Express Tribune and ProPakistani both reported these numbers. The government’s short official statement on that meeting did not name the motorway.

PPP means public-private partnership, where private investors fund part of a project. For the remaining 276.5 km, NHA is only to explore PPP and other options, so that part has no secured financing as of October 2026. In January 2026 the Planning Commission warned that NHA’s federal allocation for 2025-26 was Rs227bn against a Rs2.5 trillion backlog of approved work.

When will the Lahore-Sahiwal motorway be completed?

No completion date has been fixed. In August 2025 an NHA advisory committee member said package-I should take two to three years under the approved PC-I. The revised PC-I described in January 2026 gave five years for the whole project.

We found no report of a construction contract or work on site after the August 2026 approval. The groundbreaking was in August 2023, and the cost has been revised several times since.

What does the motorway mean for property on Ferozepur Road and Raiwind Road?

Only the first 18.5 km, from Haloki to Raja Jang Interchange, is funded. That stretch runs from the Ring Road’s Southern Loop to Kasur Road. Anything on the route beyond Raja Jang is approved on paper but unfunded, so it is a plan, not a road.

The one housing scheme an official source links to the motorway’s starting area is Fazaia Housing Society. The P4A page says Ring Road SL-II, which passes near Halloki, runs through it. P4A doesn’t give the distance from the society to the motorway’s starting interchange.

We found no official or reputable 2025-26 source for a separate Lahore-Kasur or Lahore-Okara expressway off Ferozepur Road. Treat any such road in a society brochure as not approved. The Ring Road’s newer loops, SL-3 (complete) and SL-4 (in preparation since April 2026), are on the western side of the city, not off Ferozepur Road.

Judge a society on its own legal status first. Check it on the LDA approved societies list, then compare our scored reviews of Central Park Lahore, Lake City and Bahria Orchard. Each is scored on the same published method.

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