RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has decided to extend Ring Road by 28 kilometres to connect it with Margalla Road at Sangjani.

This was stated by Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) at a meeting chaired by Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood.

The meeting was attended by RDA Director General Ammara Khan, Director Development Nazia Parveen Sudhan, Additional Deputy Commissioner General Zaheer Anwar Jappa, consultants of Ring Road and Leh Expressway projects and senior officials of the district administration.

The commissioner has called a meeting of the coordination committee, comprising senior officials of CDA, RDA and NHA, next week to discuss the extension of the Ring Road.

Commissioner calls CDA, RDA and NHA coordination committee meeting next week

The meeting was informed that the consultant had completed a survey of the area for land acquisition for the Ring Road project.

Ring Road will provide access to the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) from Islamabad and Rawalpindi from the Sangjani interchange.

More than 100,000 vehicles will ply on the road on a daily basis which will reduce the burden of traffic on main roads in the twin cities.After the proposed extension, the length of the road would increase from 36km to 64km.

Initially, the government had planned to connect Ring Road with the motorway at Thalian.

The designs of bridges, roads, a water discharge system and other technical work have been completed.

The remaining work is likely to be completed by February.

For the establishment of Project Management Unit, the Punjab Housing and Physical Planning Department would interview candidates for different posts on Jan 6 and 7.

As many as 257 candidates have applied for the posts of computer operators. The government has asked the department to make the hiring on merit.

In a briefing about Leh Expressway, the meeting was informed that the consultant of the project had started work on feasibility study which would be completed within four months.

The meeting was informed that the consultant would suggest some changes to the remodeling of Ammar Chowk and the flyover and the underpass would be tailed with Leh Expressway.

The meeting was told that teams would visit areas along Leh Nullah to check how much land would be used for the project and a report in this regard would be presented to the commissioner.

The commissioner told Dawn that PC-I of Ring Road would be prepared by the end of February and land would be acquired by the end of the current fiscal year so that work could be started as soon as possible.

He said the forest department had been asked to conduct a survey of the area and recommend sites for greenery along the Ring Road and Leh Expressway.

“An amount of Rs62 billion for the Ring Road project, including for land acquisition, is in the accounts of the government which will be released to the RDA as soon as the work is approved by the Planning and Development Department,” he said.

The commissioner said the coordination committee would brief him at a meeting about the roads connecting Ring Road with Margalla Road at Sangjani.

“Islamabad is working on a plan to connect Margalla Road with G.T. Road at Rawat and Sangjani,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2020