RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) approached the Punjab Planning and Development Board for help after it disqualified two consultancy firms that had expressed interest for third-party validation of the optimal route alignment for the Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) project.

A senior official told Dawn that on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Planning and Development Board entrusted the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to hire a consultant for the third-party validation of the optimal route.

Subsequently, in response to the advertisement by the RDA to hire a consultant for third-party validation, which included the determination of optimal route alignment (Phase-I) and land use plan along economic corridor of the third-party validated route (Phase-II), two firms submitted their proposals on Sept 19.

After due process, the evaluation committee assessed the technical proposals and presented its report to the Consultant Selection Committee in a meeting held on Sept 30. Based on the eligibility criteria mentioned in the advertised TORs, the committee members concluded that both parties were disqualified on a technical basis.

The official said the selection committee decided to approach the Planning and Development Board to get its approval for its plan to re-advertise the proposal.

According to RDA, it can either re-advertise in the national newspapers to seek bids from local firms again or approach international firms for the project.

The RDA official said since local firms had no experience with third-party validations, an international firm through a joint venture could be hired through an international competitive bidding process.

As per the old alignment of the 2020 plan, the road project worth Rs64bn was 66.3km-long from Radio Pakistan Rawat to Thalian and from Thalian to Sangjani. However, the PTI government replaced the alignment and the length of the road was reduced to 38km, from Rawat to Motorway. In March 2022, then prime minister Imran Khan inaugurated the project and gave a contract to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

As per the new alignment, the project’s total cost is Rs33.7bn including Rs27bn construction cost and Rs6.7bn for land acquisition while the total length of the main carriageway is 38.3km. When contacted, RDA Chief Engineer Dr Habib Randhawa said work on hiring a third party had been started and the authority was awaiting the Punjab development’s board permission to move ahead with the process.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2022