Consultant told to add loop to Ring Road near Sangjani.

Byline: Aamir Yasin

RAWALPINDI -- The Punjab government has enhanced the scope of work on the Ring Road project saying it would receive additional Rs10 billion after depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar.

'Devaluation of the rupee against US dollar will be a blessing in disguise for the proposed project worth $400 million and we will get nine to 10 billion rupees more,' Rawalpindi Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn.

He said the provincial government had completed talks to get a $400 million loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) of China for the project. The amount will be released after completion of PC-I and land procurement by the provincial government.

He said earlier the total construction cost of the project was Rs44 billion but after the devaluation of the rupee the cost was enhanced to Rs54 to Rs55 billion so the government decided to enhance the scope of work too.

Commissioner says scope of project enhanced as govt will get Rs10bn more from foreign loan after depreciation of the rupee

'The consultant has been asked to give a loop to connect Ring Road with Grand Trunk (GT) Road at Sangjani. This will benefit Islamabad and Rawalpindi equally.'

He said the basic aim to connect Ring Road with GT Road at Sangjani was to end traffic rush on the motorway.

The Ring Road would start at Rawat and culminate at the motorway near Thalian.

'After construction of Ring Road, rush is expected on the motorway and with the loop the traffic to Islamabad and Rawalpindi will come out from the Ring Road,' he said.

The commissioner asked the consultant to complete the PC-I by March so the government would allocate funds for land procurement.

'We made the initial plan under which the proposed Ring Road would be 36.8 km long and would be constructed from Radio Pakistan Rawat to Islamabad Motorway with five interchanges.'

He said the environment department had also been asked to finalise the environment impact report of the...