RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has approached the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank of China to get loan for ring road project.

A senior official of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) told Dawn the Chinese bank had asked the government to furnish No-objection Certificates (NoC) from National Highway Authority and Pakistan Railways for obtaining the loan.

As the proposed ring road would pass through main G.T. Road and railway track, the NoC from the railways and the highway authority for the project was necessary.

He said the former provincial government had allocated funds for land acquisition and the process to acquire land would be started soon after the general elections.

He said the Punjab government had allocated Rs4 billion for the land acquisition and had made some changes in the project which had reduced its cost hence minimum loan would be required from the bank.

He said the government would start returning the loan after completion of the project through toll tax.

He said 11,000 kanals will be acquired for the construction of the road. The total length of the ring road will be 48.5km and it will start from Channi Sher Alam and end at Palihian near Islamabad-Lahore Motorway and will be connected to the New Islamabad Airport.

However, he was of the view that the political change in the province would not affect the project this time as it would be added to the annual development programme and such projects cannot be stopped.

He said the RDA had no other project in hand at present and it had started the work on ring road.

The official said the ring road project would ease traffic congestion in the city areas as heavy traffic would not enter the downtown areas.

The government plans to shift the main grain market outside the city and set it up at the starting point of the ring road.

However, the traders and the district administration are running differences over the site as traders want the government to procure the land and give it to the traders on easy installments but the government wants the traders to establish the main grain market and procure the land by themselves.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018