LAHORE: The Punjab government has given a go ahead for launch of Ring Road-II project that will connect three districts — Lahore, Kasur and Sheikhupura.

The 186km-long road named as the National Economic Corridor, had been envisaged by the former Lahore Commissioner and the Lahore Ring Road Authority (LRRA) Chairperson Abdullah Sumbal and his team last year, it is learnt.

“Besides the existing Ring Road, we felt the need for another corridor that could not only facilitate connectivity of Lahore with Kasur and Nankana, but also play a strategic role in sustainable development, keeping in view the future requirements. So we prepared a proposal that was formally approved by our chairperson last year,” a senior LRRA official told Dawn on Saturday.

The Ring Road-II, under the plan will start from the BRB Canal in Lahore, running along its alignment and enter Kasur district. From there, it will start running along the Laliani (Mustafabad) canal. It will then enter Raiwind and then touch Manga Mandi’s suburbs. On wards, it will cross the River Ravi and run along an abandoned portion of Upper Chenab Canal (UCC) till it reaches Kala Shah Kaku and will terminate at the the BRB Canal near Muridke (Sheikhupura).

“It is the best possible route for the new corridor since its considerable length will be built on state land available along the BRB, Laliani and UC canals. Though cost of the total land acquisition has been estimated around Rs40 billion, we will save around Rs10 billion by using our own right of way,” the official claimed.

The project would be completed on the pattern of the existing Ring Road under the public private partnership. However, provision of land acquisition (right of way) would be the government’s responsibility. “But for this project, there would be no equity from the government in carrying out civil works of the project,” he added.

The corridor will have several interchanges, bridges and culverts to connect cities infrastructural facilities with each other. It will provide direct access to the motorists to three motorways (Lahore-Islamabad, Lahore-Karachi and Lahore Sialkot) without any hassle.

The corridor, he said, would also help reduce burden of heavy traffic on the existing Ring Road and in parts of Lahore, in particular and other cities, in general.

“Besides, it will provide a fast route to the Sikh pilgrims to Nankana Sahib after entering Lahore through Wahga border, resulting in an increase in their numbers. It will also be second major defence layer for the country along the BRB after the existing Ring Road,” the official said.

He said corridor will also help strengthen the canals’ embankments, saving millions of rupees being spent by the irrigation department for the purpose.

The project’s feasibility study work was likely to be assigned to Nespak, he said.

The official was of the view that the government must start land acquisition with immediate effect, as the land cost was expected to rise in future.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018