RAWALPINDI: As a result of the provincial administration’s failure to call a bid to hire a foreign consultant for the third-party validation of the best route alignment for the R3 project, the nation’s political and economic instability has also hampered progress on the much-delayed Rawalpindi Ring Road (R3) project.
The request for applications must be issued in international publications for the bidding procedure, and we need dollars to cover the cost of these advertisements, a top official of the Punjab government informed the sources.
The chosen business would also need to be paid in dollars following the bidding process, but due to a lack of dollars in the country, it appears the project would not begin in the current year, he noted.
He added that issuing the global tender, however, would take at least three months if the State Bank granted the Punjab government’s request for funding to post advertisements in overseas media.
The project will begin in the following fiscal year, the official stated, even in that scenario.
Since the Punjab administration invited commissioners and deputy commissioners to offer fresh directives following the dissolution of the provincial parliament, Commissioner Saqib Manan was unable to remark on the project.
It is worth noting that after former prime minister Imran Khan halted construction on the previous alignment due to charges of fraud, the project became the focus of controversy and a new path was subsequently created from Rawat to Motorway M-2, a 38 km distance.
Imran Khan launched the project and awarded the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) the contract in March 2022. (FWO). However, the project stalled as Khan was removed from office in April of that same year.
After taking office, the new administration sought outside analysis to determine the best course for the project and two local businesses submitted applications but were later rejected due to insufficient experience.
According to the previous 2020 plan alignment, the road project, which cost Rs. 64 billion, stretched 66.3 kilometers from Radio Pakistan Rawat to Thalian and then from Thalian to Sangjani.
However, the PTI administration changed the plan, cutting the road’s length from Rawat to the motorway in half to 38 km.
As per the new alignment, the project would cost a total of Rs. 33.7bn, including Rs. 6.7bn for land acquisition and Rs. 27bn for construction.
