Lahore Ring Road Update : Southern Loop of Ring Road to be re-assessed

[Salman]

Lahore Ring Road Updates : Southern Loop of Ring Road to be re-assessed

LAHORE: The time available for awarding contract(s) to build three sections of the Southern Loop of the Lahore Ring Road has expired.
Lahore Ring Road Authority (LRRA) Chairman Rashid Mehmood Langrial told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that the security deposits by the bidding companies would be returned soon.
The LRRA had to award the contract by December 30, 2012. China Works and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) had submitted bids for the project, estimated to cost around Rs50 billion, on September 30. After technical were accepted, financial bids were opened on October 24.

Langrial said the provincial government had constituted two committees to assess the project. “One of the committees had reservations regarding the cost of the project… the final decision will be taken by the government,” he said.
The FWO had demanded an annuity of Rs13.4 billion, and China Works Rs16.2 billion. The company getting the contract was to be paid the annuity for 15 years after the completion of the project. During these 15 years, it had to maintain the road and re-carpet it twice. It was also to install surveillance cameras and smart traffic signals.
This is not the first time that the government has backed away from a project conceived as a public-private partnership. In November 2012, the chief minister had approved the construction of the Southern Loop of the Ring Road on a build, lease and transfer basis.
However, the project was dropped when the public-private partnership steering committee in March 2013 decided that it was not cost effective.
The Southern Loop is to start where the Northern Loop ends at Defence. Package 1 of the Southern Loop, about 9.35-kilometre, would run to Ferozepur Road, the 13-kilometre Package 2 from Gajju Mata on Ferozepur Road to Adda Plot and 8-kilometre Package 3 from Adda Plot to Maraka on Multan Road.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2014.