Public hearing of Ring Road project held

Official says road will have 15-metre wide space on both sides for planting trees

RAWALPINDI:

The public hearing of the 38-kilometre-long Rawalpindi Ring Road project was held on Wednesday.

The public hearing was held at the Rawalpindi District Council hall under the chair of Rawalpindi District Deputy Director Environment Muhammad Rafique.

The participants were told that the project will be made environmental-friendly by reserving a 15-metre wider space on both sides of the track. It will reduce damage to the environment.

The participants were told that the road will also have a rainwater harvesting system

The participants were told that after the completion of the project, 35,000 small vehicles will pass through the road and it will have complete fencing. It was told that no damage will be done to crops and wildlife along the route while the people will have better transportation facilities.

Earlier, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) awarded a contract of Rs22.8 billion to the Frontier Works Organization (FWO).

Officials said that the contract was awarded to a government construction agency due to the sensitive location of the area. The government construction agency will accomplish the task without involving a third party or a private sector.

The Punjab government has decided to construct the Rawalpindi Ring Road under the 2017 alignment, under which, the road will be constructed from N-5 GT Road Rawat Banth Mor to Thalian Interchange (Motorway-2).

The NHA had raised the objections that more than 33,000 heavy transport vehicles would enter M2 from Rawalpindi Ring Road daily, which will not only damage its infrastructure but also cause a traffic jam at the Islamabad motorway toll plaza.

The Rawalpindi Ring Road project, known as the missing link of Rawalpindi, has been in cold storage for the last 17 years. The project was launched by the previous government in its last year with a loan from the Asian Investment Infrastructure Bank of China. The bank had declared the project viable and agreed to provide the loan.

The project also had the longest economic zones on both sides of the route in the previous design.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2022.