Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the new half-billion dollar mega project of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service
ISLAMABAD: By, Asghar Ali Mubarak
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the new half-billion dollar mega project of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service on Thursday, to provide hassle free, comfortable and economical travelling facility to the residents of the twin cities.
The inauguration impressive ceremony was held at the Convention Centre in Islamabad. A dedicated signal-free track of 23 kilometers has been constructed between Islamabad Secretariats to Saddar Rawalpindi with 24 stations equipped with modern facilities to facilitate the commuters of twin cities. Prime Minister announced to launch Karachi Metro bus project by the help of federal government. Addressing an inauguration ceremony of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro bus service, P M said that the people of Karachi would soon receive a gift of “good transport”. He congratulated the Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on completion of Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project, saying that it would benefit the people of twin cities especially students. The prime minister also vowed to overcome power shortfall in next three years.“We have already cut the rates of electricity in the last few months and we will reduce it further in future as well,” Sharif added. He said that the national leadership is well aware of the challenges and it is making all out efforts to overcome them.“The national leadership made an important decision to launch Operation Zarb-e-Azb to eradicate terrorism from the country,” the prime minister said. Karachi is once again turning in to city of lights, he added. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif while addressing on the occasion said the project should be called the “Pakistan Metro Bus” as people and communities from regions across Pakistan lived in the twin cities.Provincial chief ministers except Qaim Ali Shah, federal ministers as well as leaders of various political parties attended the inauguration ceremony. The government hopes the project will revolutionize transport in the capital but it has been criticized by some as extravagant. The 23-kilometre line, where 68 air-conditioned buses will carry an estimated 135,000 passengers a day along exclusive, signal-free lanes, links the neat, leafy capital with its sprawling twin city Rawalpindi.The project was built in 13 months — six months longer than planned — at a cost of Rs44.84 billion and will use buses from Turkey.Critics have branded the metro bus, which is opening as the economy slowly rebuilds after years of stagnation, as “wasteful”, saying priority should be given to spending on education, health and the environment.
But the government hopes it will give the economies of the twin cities a boost by making travel easier and cheaper for commuters currently reliant on a patchy network of minibuses and vans. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the service would be a boon for people on low-incomes.“It will also help cool the anger of people who have to travel in shoddy vans while government officials, politicians and rich people drive past in their air-conditioned and bullet-proof vehicles,” Shahbaz told journalists earlier this week. With gleaming grey tiles, escalators, elevators and modern glass and steel structures with wavy red roofs, the 24 stations of the new line would not look out of place in a more developed country. Project Director and Commissioner Rawalpindi gave a briefing about concept and implementation of the project and salient features of the bus service. The 23-kilometer signal free corridor of international standard has been constructed in just 14 months despite various challenges. Its total cost is 44.84 billion rupees including an Interchange at Peshawar Moor at a cost of 5 billion rupees. Rawalpindi portion of 8.6 kilometer road is overhead track. There are 24 state-of-the-art bus stations on the route of the Metro Bus Service – 10 in Rawalpindi and 14 in the Federal Capital. These stations have modern facilities like computerized ticketing system, escalators, and elevators for special persons and Wi-Fi.In all, 68 buses have started operating on the route as of today and each bus has a capacity of 150 passengers. Moreover, around 150,000 commuters will benefit from this service daily. Chairman Bus Project Hanif Abbasi said Metro Bus has become a reality despite propaganda of the critics.He thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif for provision of modern traveling facility, which has also added to beauty of landscape of the twin cities. Hanif Abbasi said the government has given handsome compensation to those whose properties were affected due to construction of the project.The ceremony was attended by members of the Federal Cabinet, Governor Punjab Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, Governor KPK Sardar Mehtab Ahmad, Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik, political leaders, members of the parliament, members of the diplomatic community in Islamabad and senior officials.
