RAWALPINDI: With the deadline of June 30 approaching, 90 per cent of work on the Rawalpindi Ring Road project worth Rs47 billion has been completed.

However, officials of the divisional administration and Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) feared that the road will not complete by the deadline set by Commissioner Abdul Aamer Khattak, who is also the project director.

They said carpeting of more than eight kilometres of the road was pending while the side work for drainage and right of way was yet to complete. Work on the roadside safety was also incomplete.

If work is completed within the stipulated time of June 30, it would take two more months to open the road for traffic. The officials said the project management unit and the RDA were not interested in completing the work in a hurry.

Deputy project director not sure if road will be open for traffic by end of June

When contacted, Deputy Project Director Ashfaq Sulheri expressed hope that the construction work would complete by the end of June.

He said asphalt work on 38 kilometres had been completed and work on the eight kilometers portion was pending and likely to complete within the stipulated time. He said lampposts and lights were being installed and it would complete in a month.

However, he was not sure if the road will be open for traffic by the end of this month. Mr Sulheri said the provincial government would send a team to check and decide if the road should be opened for traffic. About Thalian Interchange, he said work on it will start after completion of the Ring Road, most likely in July.

The total length of the Ring Road is 38.3km from Baanth (G.T. Road) to Thalian (Motorway). It will have total five interchanges — Baanth, Maira Mohra, Khasala, Kolian Parr and Thalian. An industrial zone will be established along the Ring Road.

RDA is the executing agency and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) is the contractor of the project. A total of 8,992 kanals has been acquired at a cost of Rs6.7 billion for the project.

The road will be operated at a design speed of 120km/h with five interchanges and six-lane controlled access and 90-metre right of way. There are two bridges on rivers, 12 bridges on nullahs along with one railway bridge near Baanth and 11 overpasses.

During the PTI government, a 68km Ring Road was planned but after a financial scam, work was stopped and a new alignment of 38.3 km was approved. Later, the then-Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone in March 2022.

The PDM government led by Shehbaz Sharif temporarily halted the project and gave the go-ahead after a third-party validation of the road. He also laid the foundation stone at Rawat on August 8, 2023.

Published in Dawn, June 7th, 2026