{"id":15853,"date":"2026-01-01T14:18:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T14:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/01\/01\/advancing-rawalpindi-ring-road-urban-upgrades\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T14:18:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T14:18:01","slug":"advancing-rawalpindi-ring-road-urban-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/2026\/01\/01\/advancing-rawalpindi-ring-road-urban-upgrades\/","title":{"rendered":"Advancing Rawalpindi Ring Road and Urban Upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rawalpindi Development Authority has provided detailed updates on three major infrastructure initiatives that aim to ease congestion, improve flood management and enhance urban mobility across the city and neighbouring Islamabad. The Rawalpindi Ring Road, central to these plans, has reached approximately 78 percent<\/strong> completion and is being positioned as a lifeline linking GT Road at Baanth with the M2 Motorway near Thalian while also connecting to CPEC routes via M2 Hakla and Margalla Avenue through AWT.<\/p>\n

To manage traffic effectively on the Rawalpindi Ring Road, the authority has finalised a traffic management model that categorises movements toward CPEC corridors, Islamabad and the airport. Under the plan heavy vehicles and large buses will not be permitted to enter Rawalpindi beyond Rawat T Chowk, with 60\u201365 seat buses dropping passengers at designated Ring Road terminals and smaller vehicles, taxis and shuttles ferrying commuters into the city. The RDA says this approach will reduce inner-city congestion, improve safety and shorten travel times.<\/p>\n

Tolling arrangements are under consideration, including a proposal to hand operations to More, run by the Frontier Works Organization, under a unified One Card system for nationwide use. The RDA indicated toll revenue collected after the initial ten-year period would be earmarked exclusively for Ring Road maintenance. Along the corridor a Northern Zone is planned to relocate major facilities such as the Pir Wadhai bus adda, fruit, vegetable and grain markets from Ganjmandi and the truck adda, while an Expo Center is proposed near the Thalian Interchange with land acquisition to be coordinated by Islamabad authorities.<\/p>\n

The Ring Road alignment has been revised from an original 64 kilometre scheme to a 38 kilometre project that overlaps parts of the earlier plan. That change created compensation disputes after some previous acquisitions were reversed. The administration, led by the Commissioner, maintains that land already acquired by the RDA should not be re-acquired at current market rates to protect the public exchequer, while landowners are seeking compensation at prevailing rates. The matter is now before the Senior Member Board of Revenue, which will decide whether revised compensation or an ex gratia package will be offered. The RDA has also engaged the National Engineering Services Pakistan to carry out a feasibility study for Ring Road Phase Two to determine future expansion routes.<\/p>\n

Nullah Lai remains a critical environmental and safety challenge. The RDA rejected a previous feasibility study costing Rs. 40 million<\/strong> for being too limited and has requested Rs. 250 million<\/strong> from the Punjab government for a comprehensive study that addresses flood passage and the separation of sewage from stormwater. Officials emphasised that Nullah Lai is fundamentally a stormwater channel but currently carries 100 percent<\/strong> of Rawalpindi\u2019s sewage and around 67 percent<\/strong> of Islamabad\u2019s untreated waste because of the absence of a trunk sewer system. The proposed solution calls for constructing a trunk sewer to divert sewage to a treatment plant in the Sawan area so that only rainwater flows through Nullah Lai, with flood protection and the safeguarding of lives and property prioritised ahead of any road or beautification work.<\/p>\n

To prevent further contamination and dumping, Section 144<\/strong> has been imposed against depositing construction material or garbage into Nullah Lai. The RDA warned of strict action against violators, including contractors and individuals, and said enforcement will be coordinated with the Rawalpindi Waste Management Company.<\/p>\n

On Murree Road the RDA is considering widening the carriageway by 15 feet on each side<\/strong>\u2014a total of 30 feet\u2014along the congested stretch from Liaquat Bagh to Benazir Bhutto Hospital. The plan would expand the main carriageway rather than build service roads, enabling uninterrupted traffic flow and faster access for ambulances and emergency services. Consultations with the Anjuman-e-Tajiran have already taken place and traders have been assured that affected shops will be offered alternative locations and compensation. The project remains at the planning stage with no immediate demolition planned; officials say early disclosure is intended to prevent further encroachments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RDA advances Rawalpindi Ring Road, Nullah Lai reforms and Murree Road widening to ease congestion, manage floods and improve urban mobility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}