LAHORE, Feb 2: District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood said on Sunday the city district government would soon start acquiring land for the construction of 77-kilometre Ring Road.

Presiding over a meeting held to review arrangements for the Ring Road’s construction, he said, the Punjab government had provided Rs500 million to the district for the project. He added a survey of 500-foot areas on both sides of the proposed road was in progress.

He said 1,000 feet on both sides of the road alignment having private housing colonies and 200 feet on both sides of the road alignment, especially where seven interchanges and five fly-overs were proposed to be built, would be surveyed.

The four-lane Ring Road was estimated to be completed in four years at a cost of Rs4 billion, he said, adding the provincial government wanted private investors to construct this road on build-operate-transfer basis.

The Nazim said a number of multinational construction companies had shown interest in the mega project, the construction for which would start from Niazbeg interchange with the first phase of 33 kilometres stretching up to Bedian. This phase would take two and a half years, he added.

He said the Lahore Development Authority had already notified the Ring Road alignment areas as controlled ones, imposing a ban on cutting of trees, digging of earth and all kinds of construction.

An organization comprising the Planning and Development chairman, Punjab finance and communication and works secretaries, LDA director-general, Traffic and Transport Planning Agency chief engineer, a city district government representative and a private sector financial expert would monitor the development of new housing schemes and industrial and commercial projects along the road, the Nazim said.