RAWALPINDI: Despite the cost of Rawalpindi Ring Road project rising from Rs47 billion to Rs50.4 billion for the third time since work began, the construction of toll plazas still remains incomplete.

However, officials concerned claimed that the road will be opened to traffic in the first week of November.

The Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) approved the third revised PC-I worth Rs50.4 billion at a meeting held in Lahore last week. The officials claimed that the project cost would not further escalate.

For the 38.3 kilometres road, atotal of 8,992 kanals had been acquired at a cost of Rs6.7 billion.

The amount for land acquisition was not added to the total project cost.

In January 2026, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) submitted the second revised PC-I and demanded the escalation to Rs51 billion but the PDWP approved Rs47 billion while raising 29 objections over the price escalation from Rs33 billion to Rs47 billion.

The executing agency again sent the revised PC-I third time last month and claimed that the price of construction material had increased by 61 per cent. However, the PDWP gave approval to 38 per cent price escalation and asked to complete the project within Rs50 billion.

A senior official of the divisional administration told Dawn that Rs3 billion had been increased due to changes in the structures of toll plazas worth Rs800 million to Rs1.2 billion, 38 per cent price escalation in construction material in last two years and a change in PC-I of the Thalian interchange.

He said if the land acquisition amount was added to the construc-tion costthe totalcost ofthe project would increase to Rs57 billion.

When contacted, Ring Road Deputy Project Director Ashfaq Sulheri said though the 38.3 kilometres road had been completed, work on construction of toll plaza booths still continued and it will take two more weeks to install Intelligence Transportation System and Electronic Toll Collection by Punjab Ring Road Authority.

He said fencing on both sides of the road from Baanth to Thalian had been completed and Parks and Horticulture Authority also completed horticulture work on both sides of the road.

About the cost escalation, the official said that the project cost increased and PDWP gave approval to it.

He said toll plaza booths were being installed in Baanth and Thalian and Punjab Ring Road Authority offices were being established along with the construction of residential areas for officials.

He said that Thalian interchange work would be started after the opening of the traffic on Ring Road. He said that the work would likely complete by the end of October. `Punjab government will open the road to traffic in the first or second week of November,` he said.

The road will operate at a design speed of 120km/h with five interchanges and six lane controlled access and 90 metre right of way. There were two bridges on rivers, 12 bridges on nullahs and roads and one railway bridge for main line near Baanth and 11 overpasses.

During PTPs tenure, the Ring Road was planned to be 68km but after an alleged financial scam, the work was stopped and a new alignment was approved for the 38.3km road. The then Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone in March 2022.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement government led by Shehbaz Sharif temporarily halted the project and gave the go-ahead after a third-party validation of the new alignment from Baanth to Thalian. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif laid the foundation stone of the Ring Road at Rawat on August 8, 2023.