Plans afoot to shift commercial centres out of Rawalpindi

RAWALPINDI: Relocation of marketplaces, transport terminals and industrial units along with other business-related centres in Rawalpindi is under consideration in order to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the city.

The Punjab government has asked the divisional administration to draw up plans to move the commercial hubs out of Rawalpindi. The administration is planning to assign space along the site proposed for the Ring Road from Channi Sher Alam in Rawat to Thalian on the motorway for the purpose.

According to Commissioner Saqib Zafar, the authorities are also planning to create a special traffic police force for the Ring Road on the pattern of the motorway police.

Rawalpindi operates as the primary market to supply food and other goods to the north, including areas such as Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Zafar said that after the Ring Road is constructed, transporters can avoid entering the city, which would subsequently help reduce traffic problems.

Zafar further said that traders will be facilitated for holding their industrial and commercial exhibitions along the Ring Road.

“The Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) requested the government to allocate the building of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport for an exhibition centre after moving the airport to the new building in Fateh Jang but it turned down the request for security reasons,” he said.

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