The Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
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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 cap ...

and

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. 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 statu ...

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 T ...

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's ...

, 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 Himalayas, Himalayan foothi ...

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 The Islamabad Stock Exchange ( ur, or PSX-ISE) was a stock exchange located in Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan. In 2016, it merged with the Pakistan Stock Exchange. History Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) was incorporated as a guara ...

, founded in 1989, is Pakistan's third largest stock exchange after

Karachi Stock Exchange The Karachi Stock Exchange ( ur, or PSX-KSE) was a stock exchange located in Karachi, Pakistan. Since 1947, it has been located at the Stock Exchange Building on I. I. Chundrigar Road. It has now been consolidated in the Pakistan Stock Exchan ...

and

Lahore Stock Exchange The Lahore Stock Exchange was a financial facility located in Lahore, Pakistan. It was incorporated as a company Limited by Guarantee under the Companies Act 1913 on 5 October 1970. In the first General meeting of the Board of Directors held on ...

, 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 11 ...

. 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 computers, ...

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 Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

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 wi ...

and

Srinagar Highway The Srinagar Highway ( ur, ; previously known as the Kashmir Highway) is a major east-west highway in Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan. The highway provides quick access through Islamabad and connects the Islamabad International Airport ...

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 This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

contact's the area with

, and through Lahore with the port city of

. The area is also connected to the

Pakistan Railway Pakistan Railways ( ur, ) is the national, state-owned railway company of Pakistan. Founded in 1861 and headquartered in Lahore, it owns of track across Pakistan, stretching from Torkham to Karachi, offering both freight and passenger servi ...

'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 2018 ...

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 The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus is a bus rapid transit system operating in the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area of Pakistan. It consists of four routes, namely the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green Lines. The Red and Orange Lines have de ...

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 (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...

, 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