PC-II approved: PDWP revises down Ring Road feasibility cost

Executing body to serve as project management unit

RAWALPINDI: After having decided to revive the decade-old Rawalpindi Ring Road project, the provincial government has revised the cost of the project’s feasibility from the initial estimate of Rs144.414 million to Rs90.975 million. This has been decided by the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) — the apex provincial body which reviews and approves projects up to Rs100 million.

In a meeting of the PDWP held in Lahore — chaired by the Punjab Planning and Development Board chairman, the Project Concept-II (PC-II) paper of the project was reviewed wherein the cost of the project’s design and feasibility was reduced from Rs144.414 million cited previously to Rs90.975 million.  As a result, the project can now be approved by the provincial government without first seeking approval from the federal government. The provincial government, though, has to decide whether the project will be built by securing a loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank of China (AIIB) or through any public-private partnership.

With a summary devised and sent to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar for a final decision on the project, the provincial government also has to decide who will be the executing authority for the project — whether it will be the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) or some other body such as the Punjab Communications and Works Department (C&W).

According to sources in the Punjab Planning and Development Department, the government will be aiming at minimising expenses incurred on the project by adopting the rule for the lowest cost. This is why a project management unit for the project will not be formed. Instead, the executing agency appointed will play the role of the project management unit.

The 38-kilometre-long Rawalpindi’s Ring Road Project comprises a corridor from the Grand Trunk Road until the Thalian Interchange along with two link roads which are each 12-kilometres-long from Rawat and Tarnol respectively.

The project’s purpose is to improve economic connectivity and road transport efficiency in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area Earlier, the AIIB had expressed its desire to give a loan worth Rs47 billion during the tenure of the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government. The bank’s team of experts had visited Pakistan four times which resulted in the preparation of a project proposal.

Per the proposal, there are two components of the project. The first component includes the construction of around 58.8 kilometres of roads (including the link roads), ancillary works such as installing traffic management and surveillance equipment, construction of operations and maintenance camps, their facilities along with procurement of equipment, installing toll services and other communication systems, consulting services and supervision consultants.

The second component includes institutional strengthening and provision of technical assistance for project implementation agencies.

The AIIB had estimated the total cost of the project to be around Rs61.699 billion ($459 million). Of this, the AIIB was willing to finance around Rs54.037 billion ($402 million), while the Punjab government was due to fork out Rs7.662 billion ($57million). Moreover, the government was supposed to procure land for the project using its own resources.

The AIIB proposal also lists the C&W Department of the provincial government as the executing authority of the project.

The project, if approved, is slated to be completed within a period of five years. Per the AIIB proposal, the project is supposed to come up for the AIIB board’s consideration on December 20, 2018.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2018.