Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMA) will maintain and operate a new Metro Bus Service connecting the existing Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus service from Peshawar Mor to new Islamabad International Airport.

A PC-I in this regard has been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday. The 26.6 kilometre long track would be completed within 24 months and it will cost 16861.559 million rupees being provided from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

It is pertinent to mention here that the Metro Bus facility will be ready by the 10th of August this year. However the ancillary and road related work will be completed by March 2018.

Ten bus stations at regular intervals on the route in addition to a two line dedicated signal free corridor will be constructed while four green areas will also be left on the route for further construction of more bus stations in future.

The Ministry of Communications is the sponsoring agency whereas the National Highway Authority (NHA) will execute this project on ground. The proposed corridor will start from Metro Bus Station Peshawar Mor and will traverse south of the Kashmir Highway up to the Golra Mor then its alignment moves to the centre of Kashmir Highway up to the G.T road Interchange.

Furthermore, from the GT Road Interchange, it will approach the Motorway Interchange by following the Motorway link road then it will move up to the New Islamabad International Airport. Except few locations where the government will have to acquire some pieces of land, mostly, the Metrobus route will be accommodated in already available right of the ways of existing roads.

The MCS will be operated through articulated air conditioned buses with special compartment for luggage and it will be administered by the private operator through the Punjab Mass Transit Authority.

Though, it is not included in the PC-I of the project as to what would be the subsidy sharing formula, but the decision of handing over the operational control of the new metro project to the PMA is a new controversy as there was a disagreement on the subsidy formula in Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus project in the past, which ended with the intervention of the Prime Minister.

Now, some quarters believe that a separate mass transit authority should be established for the federal capital instead of depending on a provincial authority.

When contacted the Director Public Relations NHA, Mr. Kashif Zaman, said: “We are just the executing agency and our mandate is up to the construction of this project, but in my view the operations will be handled by the PMA because it’s not a new project but an extension of the already existing Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project.