The Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

and

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second List of cities in Pakistan by population, most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th List of largest cities, most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is th ...

. It consists Pakistan of the

twin cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

and

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan ...

, along with several gated suburbs include Chaklala Cantt and Rawalpindi Cantt Covering the Pothohar platu, the area consists of the colonial city of Rawalpindi and the modern

planned city A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

of Islamabad. The region received a major boom with the construction of Islamabad as the capital city of Pakistan in the 1960s.

Geography

Islamabad and Rawalpindi are located in the Potohar region of northern Punjab or Panjistan, against the backdrop of the

Margalla Hills The Margalla Hills () are a hill range within the Margalla Hills National Park on the northern edge of Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, just south of Haripur District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are part of the Himalayan foothills. Th ...

Economy

Islamabad is a net contributor to the Pakistani economy, as whilst having only 0.8% of the country's population, it contributes 1% to the country's GDP. Islamabad Stock Exchange, founded in 1989, is Pakistan's third largest stock exchange after Karachi Stock Exchange and Lahore Stock Exchange, and was merged to form

Pakistan Stock Exchange The Pakistan Stock Exchange ( ur, , abbreviated as PSX) is a stock exchange in Pakistan with trading floors in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore. PSX was classified by MSCI as a frontier market on 8 September 2021. The PSX was established on ...

. The exchange had 118 members with 104 corporate bodies and 18 individual members. The average daily turnover of the stock exchange is over 1 million shares. , Islamabad LTU (Large Tax Unit) was responsible for Rs 371 billion in tax revenue, which amounts to 20% of all the revenue collected by Federal Board of Revenue. Islamabad has seen an expansion in

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications ( telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

with the addition two Software Technology Parks, which house numerous national and foreign technological and information technology companies. The tech parks are located in Evacuee Trust Complex and Awami Markaz. Awami Markaz houses 36 IT companies while Evacuee Trust house 29 companies. The economy of Rawalpindi and the surrounding district has a diverse industrial base, but remains mainly service based. According to the general survey of industry conducted by Directorate of Industries and Mineral Development Punjab, there are 939 industrial units operating in the district. This district is not famous for industrial goods like other districts. The progress has been mostly in the private sector. The existing industrial units provide employment to about 35,000 people, i.e., about 1.6% of the district's population is directly employed in large, medium and small industrial units. The Technical/Vocational Training Institute operating in the district turns out about 1,974 technicians/artisans annually, trained in engineering, air conditioning, drafting, metallurgy, welding, automated knitting, telecom and commerce, etc. Jinnah Road, formerly known as City Saddar Road, is one of the busiest business markets. It could be considered as the business headquarters of northern Pakistan; including retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers, it comprises daily cash flow of approximately more than 1 billion rupees . The importance of Jinnah Road can be seen by the presence of more than nine banks on the road with more opening soon. Being an expensive city, the prices of most of fruits, vegetable and poultry items increased in Islamabad during the years 2015-2020

Infrastructure

The metro area is connected by a network of highways to the rest of the country. Within the metro area the

Islamabad Highway The Islamabad Expressway ( ur, ), sometimes Islamabad Highway) is a major north-south expressway in Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan. The expressway provides quick access between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, connecting the national capital w ...

and Srinagar Highway provide the primary link between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The area is divided by the

Grand Trunk Road The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...

which connect's the region with

and

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

. The newer, M2 Motorway contact's the area with

, and through Lahore with the port city of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

. The area is also connected to the Pakistan Railway's national railway network. The area is served by

Islamabad International Airport Islamabad International Airport () is the international airport serving Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan. It is located south-west of the city, and is accessed via Srinagar Highway. The airport commenced full operations in 6 May 20 ...

which is one of the largest airports in Pakistan, it has a capacity of serving 9 million passengers per year which can be increased to up to 25 million. The Civil Aviation Authority has plans to acquire more land for the development of a third runway. It is the only airport in Pakistan capable of landing the Airbus A380. The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus is a 24 km (14.9 mi)

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

system that serves the twin cities of

and Islamabad within the larger metropolitan area. It uses dedicated bus lanes for all of its routes covering 24 bus stations.

Politics

As Pakistan's

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

, Islamabad serves as the seat of the federal government and is the country's political center. Rawalpindi has remained important historically, as it hosts the

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

of Pakistan's

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. Rawalpindi also temporarily served as the federal capital when Islamabad was being built in the 1960s, to replace Karachi as the capital.

Demographics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islamabad-Rawalpindi metropolitan area Metropolitan areas of Pakistan Geography of Islamabad Rawalpindi District