FWO Formaly Started Work on Rawalpindi Ring Road Project

Rawalpindi: The Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Nurul Amin Mengal who is also the Project Director of the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project has inaugurated the long-awaited construction work on the Rawalpindi Ring Road. The Project Director on Saturday reached Banth and inaugurated the project to be executed by the Frontier Works Organization (FWO). The revised PC-1 of the 38 km Rawalpindi Ring Road-R3, the main carriageway (MCW) from Baanth (N-5) to Thalian (M-2) at the cost of Rs23.606 billion was approved by the Punjab Government. Earlier the execution of the project was stopped by the previous government when a high-level inquiry revealed a massive anomaly and corruption which involved bureaucracy and some of the ministers of the then incumbent government.

The Chief Engineer of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Dr. Habibul Haque gave a detailed presentation on the project. He said that the total length of the project is 38.3 km with a total cost of 33.69 billion. He said that the land acquisition cost of the project would be Rs6.72 billion and the construction cost of the project would be Rs26.9 billion. The chief engineer further added that the design speed of the project would be 120 kmph, whereas six lanes have been divided into carriageways as there are three lanes on each side. He said that there will be five interchanges on National Highway (N-5), Banth and Chak Beli Road, Adiala Road, which will be built passing through Chakri Road and ending at Motorway (M-2) at Thalian Interchange.

Earlier last year the land worth Rs 380 million had a been acquired under the newly planned route of the ring road, however, the reports of the malpractices by the Punjab bureaucracy and some of the PTI officials were brought to the notice of the then Prime Minister Imran Khan and an immediate inquiry revealed that under the political influence the route of the Ring Road was extended to benefit some private housing societies lying in the area causing an extra burden of around 25 billion to the national exchequer. After the corruption reports the government canceled the execution of the project and the new PC-1 was approved as per the previous plan and route of the ring road initiated by the Nawaz Sharif Regime in 2014.