A team from the Punjab Planning and Development Board will inspect the Rawalpindi Ring Road project before deciding on approval of the revised PC-I, which raises the project cost to Rs. 53 billion.
A senior official from the Planning and Development Department said a pre-Punjab Development Working Party meeting held last week reviewed the revised PC-I and raised several observations.
The official said the cost increase reflects higher construction material prices over the past three years, expanded bridge widths with additional stone pitching to protect the road from flooding, and the inclusion of toll plazas along with the remodeling of the Thalian Interchange on the motorway.
According to the revised PC-I, the Rawalpindi Development Authority awarded the project contract to the Frontier Works Organisation based on 2022 construction rates. Since then, material prices have increased by about 40 percent. The planning board asked RDA to justify the revisions and decided to conduct a site inspection before taking a final decision on the revised PC-I.
RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said the authority would address the observations raised during the pre-PDWP meeting and resubmit the PC-I within a week. She confirmed that the planning board team would visit the project site to review ongoing work, calling the inspection a standard process once a project crosses 70 percent completion.
She said construction work remains on a fast track and is expected to finish within the approved timeline. She added that flood channels and interchange remodeling were included to protect the road during monsoon seasons and support traffic flow.