RAWALPINDI: The divisional administration on Saturday decided to revise the PC-I of the Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) Project as the cost of construction material cost escalated many fold and the project’s construction cost will increase from Rs27 billion to Rs31 billion.

A meeting of the Rawalpindi Division administration, Project Management Unit of R3, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and the representatives of the contractor Frontier Works Organization (FWO) was held with Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha in the chair.

The meeting discussed that the prices of cement, iron, petrol, diesel and other construction material increased manyfold in the last 14 months and there was a dire need to increase the project cost.

It also discussed the situation of the land acquisition. RDA officials informed that there was a need for 9000 kanals of land for the construction of 38.3 km of road, and almost 70 per cent of land had already been acquired.

“In the initial survey, land of 36 villages will come in the project. Eight villages (mouzas) are in Gujar Khan and the remaining are in Rawalpindi tehsil. The survey was started and landmarking was underway in the area,” a senior official of RDA told Dawn.

He said that the district price assessment committee fixed the price of land and section 4 was imposed in March 2022 before it was inaugurated by former prime minister Imran Khan at Thalian on March 19.

The project was approved in February 2022. However, a joint venture of Turkish and local firms recommended this route on July 31 and after this Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the project on August 8.

According to the RRR Project, it is a 38.3 Km controlled access road which originates from National Highway (N-5) at Baanth crosses through Chakbeli Road, Adiala Road, Chakri Road and culminates at Motorway M-2 at Thallian Interchange.

The total cost of the project is Rs33.7 billion – Rs27 billion for construction and Rs6.7 billion for land acquisition while the total length is 38.3 Km.

RRR civil works include fenced ROW (90m), grade-separated interchanges, bridges, underpasses, toll plazas and weighbridges. The road will operate at a design speed of 120Km/h with five interchanges and six-lane controlled access.

Talking to Dawn, Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha, who is the project director, said that the meeting decided to revise the PC-I and the project’s construction cost may escalate to Rs31 billion in light of an increase in the price of construction material.

He said that the majority of the land for the road had already been acquired and the authorities still had Rs300 million for the purpose. He said that the money would be spent on the remaining part of the land in the coming days.

“We also sought Rs4 billion from the Punjab government for mobilisation of machinery and other expenditures. We will start the project in the coming days as the homework for landmarking is already started,” he said.

About the revised PC-I, he said that the PC-I will be revised as per law and it was not unusual as the construction material cost has escalated compared to last year.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023