MARDAN — The provincial development committee on Thursday approved the second phase of the Mardan Ring Road, an 18-kilometre northern loop that will link Takht Bhai Road with Swabi Road and pull heavy traffic away from the city centre.
Officials said the tender will be advertised this month, with ground-breaking planned before the first week of December. The project is expected to take two and a half years.
For shopkeepers on Bank Road and Shamsi Road, the news is long overdue. “Trucks pass through the bazaar from morning till night,” said Gul Rahman, who runs a cloth shop near Bank Road. “Customers simply stop coming.”
“Trucks pass through the bazaar from morning till night. Customers simply stop coming.”— Gul Rahman, shopkeeper, Bank Road
What phase one changed
The first phase, opened in 2023, connected the Charsadda and Nowshera roads to the south. Traffic counts since then show a drop of nearly a third in heavy vehicles on The Mall, according to the district traffic office.
Land acquisition remains the main hurdle. Around 140 kanals in Gujrat and Sheikh Maltoon areas still need to be purchased, and farmers have asked for compensation at market rates.
The deputy commissioner said a committee including elected representatives and farmers’ unions would fix rates within six weeks, and that no work would start on disputed land.
