RAWALPINDI: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has forwarded the revised PC-I of Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for final approval with an observation that a non-technical person had been appointed as director of the project.

The CDWP approved the revised construction cost from Rs26 billion to Rs32.9 billion. After approval by Ecnec, funds for the project will be released.

Total cost of the project has increased to Rs39 billion - Rs6 billion for land acquisition and Rs32.9 billion for the construction. The length of the proposed Ring Road is 38.3 km. It will have five interchanges at Baanth, Chak Baili Khan, Adiala Road, Chakri Road and Thalian. An industrial zone will also be established along the highway which will operate at a design speed of 120km/h with six lanes.

The project, which aims to ease traffic flow in Rawalpindi, is a key part of the region’s ongoing efforts to enhance transportation networks.

A senior provincial government official told Dawn that at its meeting on December 12 CDWP raised the objection that the commissioner Rawalpindi had been appointed as the project director which was against rules of Planning Commission for the management of development projects. He said a non-technical person could not become the project director and he must be an engineer.

Upon this, Deputy Project Director Ishfaq Sulehri explained that on February 12, 2019, the then Punjab government had issued a notification to appoint the commissioner Rawalpindi as ex-officio project director. The CDWP members also raised the question about the increase of the construction cost from Rs22 billion to Rs26 billion last year while the CDWP had approved Rs22 billion.

The meeting was told that the project cost increased last year due to construction cost escalation as a result of inflation. About land acquisition, the CDWP asked if the Project Management Unit had acquired the land for right of way of the road or not.

The meeting was told that land acquisition was completed by Rawalpindi Development Authority. Total 8,992.32 kanals had been acquired, including 8,161.03 kanals in Rawalpindi tehsil and 831.29 kanals in Gujar Khan. The CDWP sought a report from the RDA, Nespak on traffic study on the merger of Ring Road and the motorway for placement before Ecnec.

When CDWP asked how it would be possible to complete 67 per cent of the pending work of the project by June 2025, the PMU officials said the gestation period had been extended to September 2025. However, the actual completion of work was subject to availability of funds. So far, the contractor has completed 100pc earthwork while the structure work is 60pc complete.

However, a finance department official said CDWP had cleared the project and forwarded it to Ecnec for final approval with some observations. He said the provincial government will release more funds after approval of the project by Ecnec, which was likely to meet in a week or two.

When contacted, PMU Deputy Director Ishfaq Sulehri said CDWP cleared the revised PC-I and it would be presented to Ecnec. To a question, he said CDWP raised some observations and “we cleared all of them.”

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2024