Islamabad: The steering committee for the Rawalpindi Ring Road (RRR) project on Tuesday will receive its first briefing on the proposed alignment of the route for the road venture, and the plan to move large consumer markets in its path to different locations outside the city, a news source reported. As per the publication, the committee was formed in order to oversee operations for the RRR project, and to help expedite the pace of its development.
The Government of Punjab formed the steering committee on Saturday (November 16), and asked the Rawalpindi Division’s administration to create a plan to move wholesale markets, industrial units, and transport terminals out of the city to help reduce the traffic load and pollution. Chairman of the Planning and Development Board Habib-ur-Rehman Gillani was appointed as the head of the RRR steering committee, while other members include Rawalpindi Commissioner Saqib Zafar, Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) Director General (DG) Nadeem Ahmed Abro, and the secretaries for the Housing, Finance and Physical Planning Departments.
Commissioner Zafar and RDA DG Abro paid a visit to the site for the ring road recently, in order to facilitate their plan to remove markets and other such obstructions from the path of the ring road. This proposal is to be presented before the steering committee tomorrow (November 19).
The committee will oversee the work carried out by the consultants on RRR PC-I and the project’s proposed route. Speaking to the media, Rawalpindi Commissioner Zafar said that the consultant hired for the project had already started work on preparing the PC-I, and added that a plan was being considered to form a special traffic police force for the RRR as well.
The commissioner went on to say that shifting wholesale and all other large markets as well as industrial units, educational institutes and bus terminals along the RRR route would help fix the traffic issues affecting the city and also accommodate people from the adjoining areas who rely on Rawalpindi for their various needs. He further mentioned that setting up dedicated consumer markets would also have the added benefit of reducing the cost of food items for the people of the city.
