Rawalpindi Ring Road also known as Rawalpindi–Islamabad Ring Road, is a 38.3

kilometer The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is the preferred mea ...

orbital highway Al Majd Road (formerly known as the Orbital Highway) is the longest highway in Qatar, running at a length of from south-to-north. It begins in Mesaieed in Al Wakrah (municipality), Al Wakrah Municipality and extends north towards Ras Laffan on t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

between the cities of

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

and

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

. Work on the highway started in March 2022, it is currently under construction, upon completion the highway will have six lanes. The

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

will start from Channi Sher Alam bridge near Rawat and end near Thalian interchange close to the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway. The project was originally proposed in 1991, under the government of

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who served as the 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms, first serving from 1990 to 1993, then ...

, however due to political turmoil the project never materialized. During

Shahbaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...

's visit to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in 2010 as Chief Minister of Punjab, the project was discussed between Pakistani and Chinese authorities to secure funding. In 2017, the project was again briefed to the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

to secure funding for the project.

Overview

Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area The Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area (Urdu:) is the fourth-largest metropolitan area of Pakistan, after Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad. It consists of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The area includes the Pothohar Plateau ...

, consisting of the twin cities of

, is the third largest populated metropolitan area in

. The twin cities are connected to the major economic centers of Pakistan through

N-5 National Highway The N-5 or National Highway 5 (Urdu: ) is a 1819 km national highway in Pakistan, which extends from Karachi in Sindh to Torkham in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Route The N-5 is the longest national highway in Pakistan and serves as an impor ...

, an important bottleneck on the route of the national highway is the main city area of Rawalpindi, the Rawalpindi Ring Road, also known as the R3 project, was initiated to ease the flow of traffic. The project is planned to have five interchanges at Banth, Chak Beli Khan, Adyala road, Chakri road, and Thallian. The project is estimated to cost PKR 39 billion out of which PKR 6 billion has been planned for land acquisition.

Route Redirection Scandal

In 2018, a fresh Project concept (PC-1) feasibility report was undertaken by the Punjab Government, due to the previously conducted feasibility reports deemed old. In April 2021, the bidding process was put on hold and

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

ordered an inquiry into the alleged route change of the project to benefit private housing schemes and government officials. The country's top anti graft body NAB also took notice of the alleged scam and initiated an inquiry. The main opposition party called for the removal of Chief Minister

Usman Buzdar Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar (; born 1 May 1969) is a Pakistani politician who was Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan, Chief Minister of Punjab from 20 August 2018 to 30 April 2022. Buzdar was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab fro ...

, Special Assistant to Prime Minister

Zulfi Bukhari Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari (born 3 December 1980), also known as Zulfi Bukhari, is a UK-based Pakistani politician, businessman and film producer. He served as a Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capacity of a Minister of ...

and Federal Aviation minister

Ghulam Sarwar Khan Malik Ghulam Sarwar Khan (; born 13 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician who was the former Federal Minister for Aviation, in office from 24 May 2019 to 10 April 2022. Prior to this position, he was appointed as Federal Minister for Petrole ...

as the main beneficiaries of the scam. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistani's and Human Resource Development, Zulfi Bhukari, resigned on 17 May from his position, citing the allegation of scam against him.

References

{{Roads in Pakistan Highways in Pakistan Ring roads in Pakistan