PESHAWAR: The long-delayed Northern Bypass, an over 30-kilometre road envisaged to complete the Ring Road along the provincial capital, has received a paltry allocation of Rs500 million in the current fiscal, far short of Rs5.3 billion required to complete the project’s final phase on schedule.

As the project, which is now in its 17th year, has seen its cost balloon from Rs3 billion to Rs27 billion, officials fear failure to release the required funds will further delay the project.

The issue came up during a meeting, chaired by commissioner of Peshawar Division Riaz Khan Mehsud and attended by officials of the National Highway Authority and Peshawar’s district administration here on Monday.

The documents available with Dawn show that the project launched in November 2010 has seen three PC-I revisions and missed several deadlines. Package I of the project, measuring 7.6km from motorway interchange to Charsadda Road, was originally scheduled to be completed in 2011. However, the deadline was later revised to 2014.

Commissioner says Centre to be contacted for required funding to ensure timely completion

Over 12km Package II runs from Charsadda Road to Mulazai Chowk. Work on it started in 2015 and was scheduled to complete in 2012. However, it was revised to Dec 31, 2025. This phase has so far seen completion of 64pc work.

Similarly, work on the 5.1km Package 3A, which runs from Mulazai Chowk to Nasir Bagh Road, has been going on since 2013. It was scheduled to be completed in 2014. However, it was later revised to Dec 31, 2025. A total of 86.5pc of work has been completed in this phase.

Work on Package 3B, which is 5.47 kilometres long from Nasir Bagh to Takhta Baig checkpost in Khyber district, was launched in Dec 2023 with the scheduled to open in June this year. However, the project deadline was revised to Feb 2026.

The project PC-I, according to documents available with Dawn, was originally conceived with a cost tag of Rs3.07 billion. In the second PC-I revision, the cost was jacked up to Rs9 billion, Rs21.3 billion in the second revision and Rs27.05 billion in third revision.

The documents pointed out that the project, which was in its closing stages, had a Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) allocation of Rs500 million for the current fiscal; against the requirement of Rs4.27 billion.

They highlighted the importance of revising the PSDP allocation for the current fiscal to Rs5.3 billion, including Rs4.27 billion actual estimate and Rs1.1 billion for escalation.

The project, according to documents, requires Rs0.37 billion in the first quarter, Rs2 billion in the second and third quarters and Rs1 billion in the fourth quarter.

Officials in the meeting pointed out that there were also issues of land possession, slow progress on an under construction underpass at the DHA Peshawar and the lease of heavy amounts of construction material as well.

The NHA officials asked the commissioner to hand over the possession of the endpoint loop for connection to the Jamrud Road, resolve underpass issue with locals who demanded its construction and take up the issue of relocation of three electricity pylons at the endpoint with the Tribal Areas Electricity Company.

Commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud said that the provincial government would be contacted to approach the federal government to ensure release of the required Rs5.3 billion for the project during the current period for its timely completion.

The meeting also decided to expedite slow work on two underpasses on the Nasir Bagh Road.

In addition, the administrations of Khyber and Peshawar districts were directed to address the pending issues of land possession to ensure project timely completion. The Northern Bypass will provide an alternate route to traffic coming from motorway and GT Road and reduce traffic burden on the Ring Road and interior city routes, besides benefiting the people of northern parts of the city as well as Hayatabad and Khyber areas.

An official told Dawn that the Centre’s approach to the release of PSDP funds for the projects was contrary to the principles of a federation. He said that the completion timeline of a PSDP project in Punjab was 2.5 years, 10-11 years in Sindh, 20 years in KP and 30 years in Balochistan.

He wondered how one could justify such a discriminatory attitude.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2025