Feasibility Study Launched for Rawalpindi Ring Road Phase II

Rawalpindi has begun work on the feasibility study for Phase II of the Ring Road project as construction on Phase I nears completion.

Officials said the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has hired a joint venture of the National Engineering Services Pakistan and ACE Private Limited to conduct the study at a cost of Rs. 52 million.

The consultants will examine the planned route from Thalian to Sangjani, which is intended to link the Ring Road with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said the study will be completed within four months. She added that the Punjab government will launch Phase II once the under construction Baanth to Thalian section is finished. She said the feasibility process will determine the most suitable route, and construction of Phase II is expected to begin during the next fiscal year.

A senior official from the divisional administration said the project’s original alignment in 2021 stretched 66 kilometres from Baanth to Sangjani, but it was revised in 2022 to 38 kilometres from Baanth to Thalian for Phase I.

He said Phase II will reconnect the remaining portion, extending the road toward the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and the G.T. Road. He added that an economic zone is planned along the new corridor and that 500 meters of land on both sides will be acquired to shift transport terminals and major markets out of the urban area.

He said work on Phase I is more than 75 percent complete and is expected to finish by March next year.