The Punjab government has set aside Rs5.57 billion for two projects in Murree, a new hospital in Bhurban and a major overhaul of Jhika Gali Chowk, in the latest spending on the hill station’s health services and roads. The announcement adds fresh money to a development programme gathering pace over the past year, and it comes just as the town prepares for winter, when snowfall draws large crowds and strains every part of its infrastructure.
Of the total package, Rs1.507 billion has been approved for a 50-bed hospital in Bhurban, while Rs4.063 billion goes to improving Jhika Gali Chowk. One is about care, giving residents and visitors a proper hospital closer to where they live and stay. The other is about movement, easing one of the busiest junctions in the hill station. Together, they are meant to make the town work better for the people who live there all year and for the tourists who arrive in their thousands whenever the weather turns.
Bhurban has been waiting for this hospital for some time. The plan for a 50-bed facility there was already part of the Murree Development Plan unveiled earlier this year, when a special meeting chaired by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reviewed the plan. Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb briefed that meeting on a wide package of work, including new tourism schemes for Kotli Sattian. The hospital was listed among the health projects in that package, and its water supply scheme near the bus stand had already been completed. Now, with Rs1.507 billion approved, the project moves from planning into funded reality.
The health push in Murree did not start this year. In October 2025, the chief minister inaugurated the Nawaz Sharif Cardiology Centre at the Samli Hospital in Murree, a facility that had not been renovated since it was established in 1930. The centre opened with a modern cardiac catheterisation laboratory and round-the-clock cardiologists, and five angiographies were carried out on its first day. At the same event, Maryam Nawaz announced a 100-bed hospital for Kotli Sattian and a 50-bed facility for Bhurban, alongside mobile clinics for remote communities. She also announced free Green Line bus travel for students, women and senior citizens, and a train service between Rawalpindi and Murree. The Bhurban hospital now funded is one piece of that wider promise, and its progress will be watched closely.
Jhika Gali Chowk, the second half of the package, is one of the first places visitors meet when they reach Murree, and one of its worst bottlenecks. Traffic builds up there at every peak, and the junction needs careful engineering. A report by Japanese geologists on the Jhika Gali side recommended 296 piles to protect the slope, of which 200 had already been installed by the time progress was reviewed in October. Plans also include underground electricity cabling at Jhika Gali and nearby landmarks, and the widening of roads in Upper Jhika Gali, Mall Road, Hall Road and Imtiaz Shaheed Road once encroachments are removed. The Rs4.063 billion now allocated for the chowk is the largest single item in this package, and it signals that the government wants the junction rebuilt rather than patched.
The timing matters because winter is already on the district administration’s mind. Earlier this month, the Murree administration finalised its plan for the snow season, setting up seven tourist facilitation centres with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Heavy snow-clearing machinery and salt spreaders have been positioned at the Mall, Jhika Gali, Kuldana, Sunny Bank, the bus terminal, Lower Topa and other key points, and a central control room will operate around the clock. The administration has also ordered full availability of medicines and complete attendance of medical staff at the THQ hospital and Samli Hospital. A new hospital in Bhurban and a rebuilt Jhika Gali Chowk fit directly into that preparation, giving the town more beds and clearer roads when the snow arrives.
Water, the hill station’s oldest problem, is also being addressed in parallel. Four water supply schemes completed on the chief minister’s directions have added around 700,000 gallons a day to Murree’s supply, and a bulk water project from the River Jhelum, meant to serve 425,000 people, has a completion deadline of December 2028. Ten schemes under the second phase of the Murree Development Plan are being completed at a cost of Rs4.66 billion. Read together, these projects show a government trying to fix the town’s foundations all at once, water, roads, health and tourism together.
The real test, as always with Murree, will be delivery. The hill station has seen no shortage of announcements, and residents have learned to judge a project by its completion rather than its launch. A hospital is only useful once it is built, staffed and stocked, and a chowk is only better once the traffic actually moves. The Rs5.57 billion package gives both projects the money they need. What happens next, the pace of construction and the hiring of doctors and nurses for Bhurban, will decide whether this announcement becomes something Murree’s people can feel day to day.
