It has been decided to award a contract of the Rawalpindi Ring Road to only government construction companies.
Sources said that FWO, NLC and NC will participate in the bidding of the Ring Road project. The contractor company will be bound to ensure the completion of the project within the stipulated time.
The Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (PEPA) has decided to hold a public hearing of the project on March 29, which is expected to have an impact on the environment.
Work on the project is likely to start by mid-April after awarding the contract.
Read: Ring Road alignment may be altered again
The task of the project's detailed design has already been assigned to the consultant NESPAK after the approval of the Ring Road project by ECNEC. Once the detailed design is ready, the bidding process will be started for the project worth Rs23 billion. The 38-kilometre-long road project will be completed in two years.
The Rawalpindi Ring Road starts from Bandh near GT Road Rawat, which will now be an alternative traffic route without economic zones, and culminates at Thaliyan.
The Rawalpindi Ring Road project has been pending for the last 17 years.
Rawalpindi Development Authority Chief Engineer Habibullah Randhawa said that work on the Ring Road project would be completed within two years once the contract award was awarded and the RDA will oversee the work. He said that quality work and timely completion of the project will be ensured.
Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry have expressed grave concern over the exclusion of the economic zones from the Ring Road project.
Traders demanded that an economic zone be set up along the Rawalpindi Ring Road project route for economic development for the twin cities. It should be noted that the traffic system in the twin cities has not only been badly affected due to the presence of large industrial factories at various places besides Rawalpindi in Rawat, Islamabad's Humak Model Town and Sector I-Nine. On the contrary, citizens suffer from respiratory and dangerous diseases in the most polluted environment due to its negative impact of industries pollution on the environment.
Industries and small and large wholesale markets from the twin cities will be relocated if economic zones are set up along the route of the Ring Road. This will also help overcome pollution and traffic congestion in the twin cities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2022.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ