RAWALPINDI: A joint venture of Turkish and Pakistani firms selected Rawalpindi Ring Road`s 38.3-kilometre route from Banth to Thalian Interchange as the optimal option following a thirdparty audit.

Sources told Dawn that the alignment selected by the consultant was the same one approved by the PTI government after it revised the project in light of corruption allegations. They said the project cost increased by 60 per cent due to a year-and-half delay. It was Rs27billion in March 2022.

The consultant was given the task to choose the route of Rawalpindi Ring Road under third-party validation and it completed the task on July 31 and handed over the recommendations to Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha. It will, however, give two proposals to connect it from the motorway to Sangjani in the second phase.

Talking to Dawn, Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chatha confirmed the development and said that the consultant finalised the route of Rawalpindi Ring Road and it will start from Grand Trunk Road to the Thalian interchange.

As per the first option, the road would be constructed from the motorway to the new airport and then would run along the CPEC road before being linked to GT Road in Sangjani. If traffic plied on the motorway as envisaged in the first option it would lead to conges-tion at entry points of the motorway, experts warned.

`As per the second option, the consultant proposed the construction of a two-way road along the motorway to connect it to Grand Trunk Road in Sangjani. However, these two options will be considered by the Punjab government for final approval,` he said.

He said that in the first phase, the work would be started as soon as possible because the Punjab government wanted to start the project to ease the traffic congestion in the garrison city.

He said that a `new city` would be developed along the Ring Road as well.

During the PTI`s tenure, two routes were planned for the project. As per an old alignment prepared in 2020, Rs64 billion worth Ring Road was 66.3km long from Rawat Radio Pakistan to Thalian and from Thalian to Sangjani.

Under the new alignment of 2021, theRing Road would be 38.3 km controlled access road which will originate at National Highway (N-5) at Baanth and after crossing Chakbeli Road, Adiala Road, Chakri Road will terminate at M-2 at Thallian Interchange.

The project had run into controversy during the tenure of former prime minister Imran Khan which forced the government to halt the work on the old alignment in light of corruption allegations.

A new alignment from Rewat to Motorway measuring 38km was subsequently announced. On March 19, 2022, then PM Imran Khan inaugurated the project and gave the contract to the Frontier Works Organization (FWO).

However, he was removed from power a month later. After coming to power, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif hired a third-party consultant for the validation of the optimal route for the project.