PM inaugurates Pindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project
* Says people of Karachi will also soon receive a gift of ‘good transport’ in the form of metro bus service
Online

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced to launch Karachi Metro Bus Project after he inaugurated the 23-kilometer long Rawalpindi-Islamabad mass transit metro bus service.

He launched the project at an impressive ceremony held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon. A dedicated signal-free track of twenty-three kilometres has been constructed from the Islamabad Secretariat to Saddar in Rawalpindi, with twenty-four stations equipped with modern facilities to facilitate the commuters of the twin cities.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus service, Sharif said that the people of Karachi would soon receive a gift of “good transport”.

He congratulated Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on completion of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project, saying that it would benefit the people of the twin cities especially students. He 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,” he added.

The prime minister 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,” he said. Karachi is once again turning into the city of lights, he added.

He congratulated the people of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and said the bus service would provide them modern and comfortable travelling facility at an affordable cost. They would now be able to reach their workplaces and educational institutions without wastage of time. He said now there would be less traffic congestion on Murree Road in Rawalpindi where an elevated track has been constructed for metro bus.

PM Sharif congratulated the Punjab chief minister for implementing the project in the shortest possible time and in a transparent manner. He said those misusing national resources cannot be the well-wishers of the country or people. He announced that the federal government would provide gift of a Metro Bus Project to the people of Karachi. He said his government has launched a number of developmental projects and the Metro Bus Project is just one aspect of these initiatives.

In his speech, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the metro bus service is undoubtedly one of the best developmental projects of the world. He said originally Rs44 billion were allocated for the project and the cost also included construction of Peshawar Morr worth Rs5 billion which was not strictly a part of the Metro Bus Project. He said if these Rs5 billion are deduced then the cost of the Metro Bus Project comes to Rs39 billion.

He said there are 14 underpasses and equal number of pedestrian flyovers on the route of the metro bus. There were also 32-kilometre footpaths on both sides of the track and 45-kilometre long drains besides 23-kilometres long service roads. As people from across the country reside in the twin cities, he added, it would be appropriate to call the project as Pakistan Metro Bus Project.

The Punjab chief minister also referred to the presence of leadership of the four provinces at the inaugural ceremony of the project and said their presence at the launching of the project is a symbol of national unity and solidarity. He said Pakistan can progress and march forward only if the four federating units work together. The prime minister would soon lay foundation stone of the Metro Bus Project in Multan which would also be completed in a record time.

He said PM Sharif not only gave the vision of motorways to the country but also took the courageous decision of going nuclear in 1998 to make Pakistan’s defence invincible. He added that Pakistan is going to become an Asian Tiger especially in the backdrop of the historic announcement by the Chinese president to invest $43 billion in Pakistan in different sectors.

Shahbaz said this is investment and not loan and “it is for us to capitalise on the opportunity to transform fate of the country. He said this is the first ever, single largest economic package China given to any country of the world. This is confidence of China in the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he will deliver. He said world-class construction of the Metro Bus Project is a sort of soft revolution and there is the need to bring about such soft revolutions in every field.

He thanked Turkey for its cooperation and assistance in the implementation of the project and said a Turkish company has got contract for running buses through transparent tendering. He recommended Pride of Performance for Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed who worked hard to realise the dream of the project into a reality. He said he would extend all possible cooperation to the KP chief minister for implementation of a similar project in Peshawar.

Metor Bus Project Chairman Hanif Abbasi said the metro bus has become a reality despite the propaganda by critics. He thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for provision of modern travelling facility, which has also added to landscape beauty of the twin cities.

He said the government has given handsome compensation to those whose properties were affected due to the construction of the project. The Punjab government, he added, has set up a state-of-the-art Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. The Institute of Urology is about to complete besides technical training institutions and eleven stadia. He said a stadium of international standard is also being constructed in Rawalpindi.

Project Director and Commissioner Rawalpindi Zahid Saeed gave a briefing about concept and implementation of the project and salient features of the bus service. 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 computerised ticketing system, escalators, and elevators for special persons and Wi-Fi. In all, 68 buses have started operating on the route as of Thursday and each bus has a capacity of 150 passengers. Moreover, around one hundred and fifty thousand commuters will benefit from this service daily.

The ceremony was attended by members of the federal cabinet, Punjab Governor Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad, Balochistan Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik, political leaders, members of the parliament, members of the diplomatic community in Islamabad and senior officials.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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