PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi has said that the proposed Outer Ring Road will help reduce the growing traffic congestion in Peshawar besides facilitating greater commercial and economic activity in the surrounding areas.

He said this while chairing a high-level meeting called at the Chief Minister’s House here to review the Outer Ring Road project for southern parts of Peshawar, according to an official issued on Tuesday.

Senior officials from the relevant departments briefed participants on various aspects of the project, including the tentative alignment, estimated cost and implementation timeline.

They said that the proposed 31-kilometre road would cover key southern localities of the city.

Officials said the preliminary assessment put the estimated cost of the project at Rs50-60 billion, while the tentative timeline its completion was around three years, subject to final approval and resource mobilisation.

The chief minister directed authorities to incorporate appropriate and strategically located interchanges in the project design to maximise accessibility and ensure greater public convenience.

He also said that the planning and design of the project should be undertaken with a forward looking approach, taking into account the future traffic flows, urban expansion and the long-term mobility needs of the city so that the infrastructure remained effective and sustainable for decades.

Mr Afridi also directed authorities to engage with the National Highway Authority to pursue the construction of an interchange at the Peshawar bus terminal, which, he said, would enable intercity traffic to access the route directly without entering the urban core.

“Such an arrangement will significantly reduce traffic pressure within the city,” he said.

The relevant departments were directed to conduct a detailed feasibility assessment for the inclusion of a Bus Rapid Transit track along the proposed Outer Ring Road, with the objective of integrating modern and efficient public transport options into the capital city’s long term mobility framework.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2026