RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has approved the Ring Road project for the Rawalpindi city and allocated Rs99.975 million for its feasibility study and design.

The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) would execute the project. Two separate Project Management Units (PMUs) will be formed for executing the project and procurement of land.

The Planning and Development Department of Punjab on Dec 6 approved the project presented to it by the RDA. Later, the provincial government made the allocation.

A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that under the directives of the government the project director would be the divisional commissioner and the RDA would execute the project under his supervision.

Rs99.975m approved for feasibility study and design of the road, official says

He said the government had asked the RDA to hire a consultant to ascertain whether the road would be constructed on the basis of public-private partnership or loan financing.

The process for the hiring of a consultant would be started next week as the civic body would advertise expression of interests. He said the process would be completed in a month.

The RDA would also make separate PC-I after formation of the PMU. “A separate PMU will be formed for the acquisition of land.”

The official said the previous PML-N government had allocated Rs4 billion for the acquisition of land. However, the provincial government has now sought a fresh report on this.

“Earlier, 11,000 kanals was to be acquired for the construction of the road according to the initial survey. The road was to be 48.5km long, starting from Channi Sher Alam and ending at Palihian, near the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway. It would be linked to the new airport,” he said.

Though there would be no major changes, the PTI government wants some changes to establish economic zones along the road and shift the main markets from the city areas there.

He said the PML-N government had decided to get a loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) of China.

“The government is negotiating with the bank but things will be finalised after the report of the consultant.”

He said the bank had asked the previous government to acquire land first after which the loan would be provided for the project. The official said Rs4 billion would be required for the acquisition of land.

He said the government had formed a committee of traders and revenue officials last year to shift the wholesale markets to Channi Sher Alam near Rawat where 3,000 kanals had been identified for it.

When contacted, RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi said the provincial government wanted to launch the project as soon as possible to boost business activities in the area and to end traffic gridlocks on main city roads.

“We want to establish economic zones, markets and new housing societies as well as educational institutions along the Ring Road to avoid congestion in the city areas.”

He said all housing societies should be constructed under rules and regulations of the RDA.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018