“Fourteen toll plazas will be constructed on the northern loop of the Ring Road, the Lahore Ring Road (LRR) deputy project director, Najam Waheed, told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
These include Niazi Chowk, Mehmood Booti, GT Road, Harbanspura, Abdullah Gul, and Packages 6, 7, 10 and 11. However, rates for the toll tax have not been revealed yet.
Waheed said motorcycles and rickshaws would not be allowed to enter the Ring Road once it is completed by the end of February.
The northern loop was originally scheduled to be complete by November 2011. Waheed said currently motorcyclists mostly used the Ring Road till the Bhatta Chowk Interchange to enter and exit Defence.
“As soon as the toll plazas are set up, bikes and rickshaws will instantly be banned on the Ring Road. The Ring Road is a fast moving track and slow moving vehicles will not only endanger their own lives but also the lives of other commuters.”
Zubair Jan, a resident of Defence, said that the road ahead of Bhatta Interchange was only used by racers. He said most of them performed stunts and there were no traffic police to address to stop them.
Reasons for delay
As many as 35 km of the 40 km long northern loop has been completed.
Work on the remaining section (package 14, 16 and 17) was inaugurated in April last year. It was to be complete by November.
Lahore Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik, who is the Lahore Ring Road project director, told The Express Tribune the two packages would be completed by the end of February. He attributed the delay in construction to the time taken in acquiring land and setting up the Ring Road Authority.
The LRR northern loop’s fifth and final interchange (package 15) had been inaugurated a month earlier by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The commissioner hoped that work on the southern loop, linking the road to the motorway, would be completed by the end of 2012.
The Southern loop will have five interchanges. It is divided in four sections and is 48 km long.
A Nespak official said an international firm will build the southern loop on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. He said the eight kilometre southern loop stretch connecting Package 17 to Ferozepur Road would take at least eight months to complete.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2012.
COMMENTS (14)
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@Cautious: How about worrying about some faults in the Indian road and tollway system, for a change?
i agree it is just another showbaz sharif drama
Billions of Rs have been spent on this road. Now toll plaza are planned to be operating on it. This means that normally people will opt for inter city routes. I dont consider that this project is for poor masses of around 90% of people in lahore because only the cars and large vehicles will enjoy it. Punjab Govt spends billions on short visioned projects. Sorry poor your dont have any right to enjoy the better facilities.
Let me find some faults in Pakistani tollways and I ll revisit with my acrimonious remarks. I dont not wish people to think that I ve gone "soft".
they must utilise the RFID technology and post paid/ prepaid E-gate passes to be issues, affixed to the wind shlieds of vehicles, instead of building toll plazas. This will reduce the waiting time and avoiding standing in the long long ques.
If can do some innovations, atleast we should be getting benifit of the exisiting technologies.
Such roads are not beneficial to majority of Pakistanis who don't own cars. Major cities always focus on Mass Transit Systems to solve common men problem, but here all is targeted towards improvement for upper class.
This is wonderful. It looks like it is M25 (London orbital Motorway). It should cut down journey time. I suggest that motorway rule should be applicable on this road.
well done PML(N)
Beautiful roads !!
The mad motorcycle racing from State Cement to Nawaz Sharif interchange is a menace to any driver or residents. And after the show put up for opening the interchange (complete with fiery anti everyone speeches by PML-N) hardly any work has been done to cover the disintegrating embankment with stone/plaster....the filling will be swept away and a new contract given so someone can make even more money.
@A.Bajwa:
"All it needs is to get rid of traffic congestion."
While a properly planned ring road system is good for city traffic management, only a vast and well-planned mass transit system can solve traffic problems in the future for a growing city.
Well done. I am sure this initiative will go a long way to improve the infrastructure and traffic in Lahore. Hats off to the provincial government.
That sounds wonderful.Lahore must be elevated to a great city. It has the potential. All it needs is to get rid of traffic congestion.
Shahbaz Shareef Zindabad!