RDA yet to complete master plan, land acquisition

AIIB delegation visits project management unit, seeks progress reports

RAWALPINDI: With the provincial government clearing the Rawalpindi Ring Road project and allocated around Rs90.975 million for a feasibility study, a team of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Of China has termed provision of all necessary facilities in the project’s management unit as imperative to secure funding.

The provincial government, though, has yet to complete work on a master plan of the project apart from acquiring the necessary land to build it. A six-member delegation of the AIIB is currently on its fifth tour of the country to inspect the three-year project management unit before approving funds for the project. The delegation separately met with officials of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and the Rawalpindi commissioner.

The delegation will now head to Lahore where they will meet with the mission secretary, the Planning and Development (PND) department chairman, National Engineering Services Pakistan (Pvt) Limited NESPAK officials and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Later, the AIIB delegation hopes to meet with officials of the Economic Affairs Division in Islamabad.

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After the Rs90.975 project concept-II (PC-II) of the project, to prepare feasibility for the ring road, was approved after being revised upwards from Rs26 million, sources say there are expectations that the PC-II could be re-revised upwards by as much as 20 per cent. To do this, however, sources say that the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules will have to be relaxed.

In this regard, the PND officials have suggested that they should issue a call for tenders again while revising the PC-II of the project which takes a decision about hiring a consultant.

However, the NESPAK officials were of the opinion that the PPRA rules should be relaxed and the PC-II should be accepted at the current level instead of revising it upwards.

Meanwhile, the AIIB has asked for the master plan of the project and details of the land acquired for it.

Thus far, a survey has been carried out to determine the exact route along which the 38.8-kilometre-long Ring Road will be constructed. The alignment of this road will start from the Channi Sher Alam Bridge on GT Road and end at the Thalian interchange on the M-2 motorway between Rawalpindi and Lahore near the Islamabad International Airport along with 12-km-long link roads from Rawat and Tarnol. Four intersections will also be constructed.

When asked about the status of the land acquisition and master plan for the project, RDA Spokesperson Hafiz Muhammad Irfan said that the design and feasibility of the project are yet to be completed. Until they are finalised, they cannot complete the land acquisition or the master plan process, he said. The RDA had been selected as the execution body of the project in December, last year.

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. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2019.