LAHORE: In a groundbreaking move, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has announced the launch of 100 new Sahulat Bazaars throughout the province to fight inflation, stabilize prices, and offer relief on a year-round basis to millions of people.
A Special Chief Minister‘s Initiative in the FY 2025–26 Budget, the scheme bears a whopping Rs. 10 billion investment, making it one of the largest public welfare schemes targeted in Punjab‘s history.
Spurning the antiquated wastage of billions every year on fleeting Ramzan Bazaars, this effort formalizes permanent, specially constructed centers in each Punjab tehsil, providing daily-use items at officially notified prices, clean, regulated, respectable marketplaces for the daily public good. Sahulat Bazaars will be year-round anchors of relief, not periodic handouts.
13 Sahulat Bazaars are already under construction, such as Jaranwala, Pattoki, Sharaqpur, Muzaffargarh, Okara, Khanewal, Narowal, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Chunian, Wazirabad, Bhalwal, Noshehra Virkan, Jalalpur (Multan), and Burewala. Rs. 3.4 billion have already been disbursed on these locations, which will be running by August 2025.
Innovative add-ons such as “Sahulat On the Go“ are also transforming urban access, with mobile markets rolled out across 15 Lahore hotspots, making government-priced essentials accessible while preventing illegal encroachments and off-the-books profiteering.
Supportive measures also include free home delivery services, Sahulat Stalls providing prices below notification, full solarization of functioning bazaars, and upgradation of 36 existing facilities across Punjab.
Heading PSBA, Naveed Rafaqat Ahmad confirmed that the Government of Punjab has placed this project with unprecedented priority.
“As part of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif‘s vision and under the direct supervision of Chairperson Afzal Khokhar, MNA, all 100 Sahulat Bazaars will become operational well in advance of Ramazan. Division-wise execution plan is already in place, and work on the ground will commence immediately after land allotment,” he asserted.
To speed up implementation, Secretary PC&CMD, Dr. Ehsan Bhutta, held a high-level meeting on the Chief Minister‘s Special Initiatives, imposing strict timelines for the submission of concept papers to the Planning & Development Board to facilitate early release of development funds.
Dr. Bhutta has also personally contacted the Commissioners of Punjab, authorizing the speedy identification and allocation of land to eliminate all the impediments and facilitate quick ground mobilization.
Established legislatively, the Punjab Sahulat Bazaars Authority (PSBA), previously known as the Punjab Model Bazaars Management Company, is now fully operational as a sovereign, law-supported public entity.
Under the firm stewardship of CM Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Chairperson Afzal Khokhar‘s guidance, and effective implementation by PSBA, this project is a turning point in the delivery of public service.
The 100 Sahulat Bazaars shall not only be relief centers but pillars of structural change, people-centered governance, and a future where necessities are within reach, affordable, and delivered with dignity, every day of the year.
