Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has inaugurated mega project of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service to provide hassle free, comfortable and economical travelling facility to the residents of the twin cities.
He launched the project at an impressive ceremony held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon.
Chairman Bus Project Hanif Abbasi
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.
He said the Punjab Government has set up a state of the art Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. An 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.
Salient Features of the Project
A dedicated signal-free track of twenty-three kilometer has been constructed between Islamabad Secretariat to Saddar Rawalpindi with twenty-four stations equipped with modern facilities to facilitate the commuters of twin cities.
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 Morr at a cost of five 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 - ten in Rawalpindi and fourteen in the Federal Capital. These stations have modern facilities like computerized ticketing system, escalators, 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 one hundred and fifty thousand commuters will benefit from this service daily.
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.
