Bhatti Chowk Underpass Opens in Lahore, Improving Access to Data Darbar and Inner City

The Bhatti Chowk Underpass has opened to traffic in Lahore after roughly four months of construction, part of the wider Data Darbar expansion project in the historic inner city corridor near Bhatti Gate. The opening was reported on 20 August 2026, with local commuters cited as saying journeys through the area that previously took around 10 to 15 minutes may now take about 2 to 3 minutes.

What the Underpass Is Meant to Fix

Bhatti Chowk sits at one of Lahore's busiest and most congested junctions, immediately adjacent to Data Darbar, one of Pakistan's most visited Sufi shrines and, according to Punjab's own Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department, the largest shrine in South Asia by annual visitor numbers and complex size. The shrine draws continuous pedestrian and vehicle traffic through the surrounding inner city streets throughout the year, a pattern officials have specifically cited as the reason comprehensive planning for traffic flow, pedestrian movement and public amenities became essential around the site.

The Full Scope and Cost of the Project

According to Secretary Auqaf Punjab Dr Ehsan Bhutta, the total estimated cost of the Data Darbar development project stands at Rs6.3 billion, with the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency, TEPA, allocated Rs1.193 billion specifically for external development and traffic management works, including the underpass itself, while the Communications and Works Department executes the remaining scope. The project includes integrated master planning, expansion of the shrine complex, traffic management improvements, beautification works and upgraded infrastructure for pilgrims, alongside the remodelling of Bhatti Chowk, a modern sitting area in front of the shrine, upgraded pedestrian zones, facade improvements, new parking facilities and extensive landscaping.

Why the Shrine's Scale Makes This Project Significant

Data Darbar's importance to the surrounding area is not incidental. The Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department administers 534 shrines and 534 mosques across the province, alongside 76,625 acres of land and more than 1,400 commercial and domestic properties, and Data Darbar specifically generates the largest single share of the department's shrine related revenue in Punjab. The department, formed in 1960, also operates a 120 bed hospital directly at the Data Darbar complex. This scale explains why traffic and access improvements around the shrine were treated as a genuine infrastructure priority rather than a routine local road project.

Who Built and Oversaw the Project

The underpass and wider expansion were executed as a joint effort between LDA's traffic wing TEPA, the Communication and Works Department, NESPAK, and the Auqaf Department, which administers the shrine itself under the Auqaf Ordinance of 1960. This multi agency structure reflects the project's dual purpose, easing traffic congestion through the underpass while simultaneously upgrading the shrine's surrounding pedestrian and aesthetic infrastructure under Auqaf's own development plan for the complex.

What This Means for Inner City Lahore's Commercial Property

Faster, more predictable transit through one of Lahore's most congested junctions has real implications for commercial property and business activity in the surrounding inner city area. Bhatti Gate and the streets feeding into Data Darbar host a dense concentration of established commercial activity built around the continuous pilgrim and visitor traffic the shrine draws, and reduced transit delays typically translate into improved accessibility for both this devotional footfall and everyday commercial customers and suppliers moving through the corridor. Property and business owners in the immediate Bhatti Chowk and Data Darbar corridor should watch for the completion of the wider Rs6.3 billion project's remaining scope, since the underpass itself represents only the traffic management component of a considerably larger, still ongoing redevelopment of the shrine complex and its surroundings.

What Remains Outstanding

The underpass opening represents completion of the traffic focused component of the broader project, but the full Data Darbar development plan, spanning integrated master planning, complex expansion, further beautification works and upgraded pilgrim infrastructure, remains an ongoing, multi phase effort under Auqaf's stated development vision for the shrine. Readers and nearby property owners should treat the corridor's full redevelopment as still in progress even though the underpass's core traffic function is now operational.

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Sources

1. Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department, official shrine page for Data Darbar: https://auqaf.punjab.gov.pk/shrine-data-darbar
2. Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department, official website: https://auqaf.punjab.gov.pk/
3. Wikipedia, Punjab Auqaf and Religious Affairs Department, background on structure and mandate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_Auqaf_and_Religious_Affairs_Department
4. Wikipedia, Data Darbar, background on the shrine's history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Darbar