RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has decided to execute the Ring Road project through the Communication and Works (C&W) Department instead of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) as it dropped the public-private partnership idea after failing to get response from investors.

“As the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is going to finance the project, the provincial government has directed the RDA to hand over the project to the C&W department,” a senior RDA official told Dawn.

He said earlier the government had planned to construct the road on a public-private partnership. However, the government failed to get a response from investors.

He said the government had also directed the RDA to provide all the details about the project and PC-I to the C&W department.

The RDA had three major projects for the fiscal year 2017-18 and now it is left only with the Ammar Chowk redesigning and the Dry Port Road construction. After the metro bus project, the provincial government did not give any major project to the RDA.

Punjab govt asks RDA to hand over all documents and PC-I to Communication and Works Department

The Ring Road project was initiated in 1991 by the RDA but due to frequent changes in governments it could not be executed.

In 2008, a fresh feasibility study was conducted to construct the road from Channi Sher Alam to Fatehjang near the New Islamabad Airport through foreign investors on a private-public partnership basis.

In the plan, the RDA made changes by reducing the total length of the road from 75km to 54km and dropping the idea of an economic zone. It also dropped the idea of laying a rail track along the road to connect the main railway lines with the new airport.

“The changes were made to reduce the project cost,” said the official.

He said under the old plan investors would finance the project and the government would acquire land. The investors had to build, operate and transfer the road to the government.

When contacted, RDA Chief Engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari said the government had informed the civic body that the Ring Road project would be executed by the C&W department.

He said the decision was taken after the government changed its mind to construct the road on a public-private partnership basis. He said the RDA would hand over all the documents related to the project to the C&W department.

He said the C&W department would execute the project as planned by the RDA. The length of the road has been reduced from 75 to 54km from Channi Sher Alam to Palihian near Islamabad-Lahore Motorway. There will be two loops for Rawat and Islamabad.

He said the size of the right of way was also reduced from 800 feet to 300 feet.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2017