RAWALPINDI:
The completion of Rawalpindi Ring Road Phase 1, a project with an estimated cost of Rs 50 billion, which could not be completed within the deadline set by the Punjab Chief Minister during the year 2025, has now been projected to March 2026.
Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has also claimed that the feasibility study and PC-I for ring road phase two will be completed by March next year.
According to details, the feasibility study for Ring Road Phase Two, extending from Thalian Interchange on M-2 highway to GT Road (M-5), will incur an estimated cost of Rs52 million and is expected to be completed by March 2026. After this, the project’s PC-I will be prepared for which the services of NESPAK have been engaged.
It is pertinent to note that the Rawalpindi Ring Road route begins at Banth Mor on the GT road and ends at the Thalian interchange on the highway after covering a distance of 38.6 kilometers. The project cost has escalated from Rs33b to Rs0b. During an on-site inspection, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz had directed that the project should be completed at any cost by December 30, 2025.
However, according to RDA sources, approximately 75 percent of the work has been completed so far. The land acquisition process is currently underway to transform the Thalian Interchange into a broad-based interchange, enabling its utilization for future expansions.
While completion of Phase 1 in March 2026 is expected, RDA sources caution that it cannot be stated with certainty whether the project, including the broad-based Thalian interchange, will be fully implemented by then.
