PM to lay foundation of Ring Road soon

RDA chief says plan of the project has been approved

RAWALPINDI:

Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to lay the foundation stone for the Rawalpindi Ring Road Project (RRRP) by the end of this month or in January.

This was disclosed by Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Chairman Tariq Murtaza on Thursday, adding that all arrangements for the project were being finalised.

He stated the long-awaited Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project will not only improve economic connectivity and road transport efficiency between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi but also usher in a new era of development and prosperity in the region.

The project, he said, was initiated in 1991 by the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) but could not be built over the past 30 years. Now, he said, the Punjab government will develop around 10 economic zones along the project to boost economic and industrial activities.

Noting that the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and other relevant quarters have approved the plan for the project, the RDA chief said that the 65.6 kilometres (km)-long project will have six lanes on each side, like the motorway.

Service roads will be constructed along the main road while the RDA would plant 0.15 million saplings along the signalfree corridor.

Murtaza said that the project will have interchanges at eight different locations including Radio Pakistan, Rawat, Chak Beli, Adyala, Chakri, M2 Mor, Islamabad International Airport (IIA), and Sangjiani. Residential zones will be established along Sangjiani, Adiala, Chakri and Chak Beli interchanges.

It will feature a dry port equipped with modern facilities, an international exhibition centre - near the IIA - along with the establishment of fruit and vegetable wholesale markets, goods and public transport terminals and cattle markets. Unlike other markets in the city, farmers will have direct access to the markets set up along the Ring Road.

The project will also include dedicated education and health zones including a modern hospital near Chak Beli Interchange, colleges and universities, while recreational zones will boost tourism through a modern theme park between Chakri and Morat interchanges, he said.

The RDA chief said that the relevant authorities have been directed to begin the project as soon as possible so that it can be completed in the shortest possible time frame.