RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Ring Road project worth Rs47 billion will be ready in the first week of July as asphalt work on the 38-km-long road has been completed.
Talking to Dawn, Deputy Project Director Ashfaq Sulheri said the construction work on Ring Road was almost complete and “we will inform the Punjab government about the completion of work by the first week of July.”
He said the provincial government will set a date for inauguration of the road after which it will be open for traffic.
The official said the asphalt work had been completed within the stipulated timeframe. Work to make the right of way green is underway while signboards are being installed. He said lampposts and lights were also being installed and would be completed in a month.
Punjab govt will be informed about completion by first week of July after which a date will be set for inauguration, says official
The official said there were some minor work pending like drains and lane marking. Fencing is also being carried out along the road. He said special grass was being planted on high embankment slopes.
To a question about the Thalian interchange, he said work on it will start after completion of the Ring Road, most likely next month.
He said once work at Thalian is started, it would take about three months for completion, as there will be four lanes in the interchange besides the expansion of a bridge over the motorway toward Islamabad International Airport.
Mr Sulheri said more than 30,000 vehicles will use Ring Road on a daily basis and the speed limit on the highway will be 120km per hour.
“A toll system will be introduced on the road similar to the one on Lahore Ring Road,” he said.
After its inauguration, it is expected that 25 to 30 per cent of general traffic will use Ring Road from G.T. Road to Motorway Chowk apart from 70 per cent of goods traffic. The traffic burden on roads in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad will reduce.
The total length of the Ring Road is 38.3km from Baanth (G.T. Road) to Thalian (Motorway). It will have five interchanges at Baanth, Maira Mohra, Khasala, Kolian Parr and Thalian. An industrial zone will be established around the road.
Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) is the executing agency and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) is the contractor.
During the PTI tenure, the planned length of the road was 68 kilometres but after a financial scam, work was stopped and a new alignment of 38.3 kilometres was approved. Later, then prime minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone in March 2022.
The PDM led by Shehbaz Sharif temporarily halted the project and gave the go-ahead after a third-party validation. Prime Minister Sharif laid the foundation stone of the road at Rawat on August 8, 2023.
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