78 eco-friendly, air-conditioned buses approved for Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi: Provincial Minister for Transport and Mass Transit Bilal Akbar Khan on Friday said that Punjab government is taking all necessary steps to provide comfortable travelling to people and for this, a comprehensive plan has been prepared to remove congestion on busy roads in different cities including Rawalpindi.

He said that government was fully cognisant of the travelling issues for which new feeder routs were proposed to provide comfort to daily road users. Chairing ‘Integrated Urban Transport Plan’ committee’s meeting here at the Commissioner’s Office, the minister said that Chief Minister Punjab has given special directives to implement the ‘decongestion plan’ of all major cities including Rawalpindi on emergency basis for which 78 eco-friendly air-conditioned buses have been sanctioned initially for the city.

Six feeder routes of 52km have also been proposed for phase one project, to provide access to various metro bus stations including Saddar, Mareer, Liaquat Bagh, Chandni Chowk, 6th road and Faizabad stations, he said adding that a study was in progress on Nespak’s traffic plan. The scheme is in the approval phase which would be included in the upcoming ADP, he said. More buses and new feeder routes would also be added in the light of the study, making metro bus service more convenient for people, he stated. Earlier, Secretary Rawalpindi Transport Authority (RTA) briefed the minister on proposed feeder routes for the buses.

It was apprised that in the first route, 12 buses would be provided for a 9 km long route from Swan station to Railway Station via GT Road. The second route would be 12km long from Islamabad Expressway to the Railway station via Airport Road, Chaklala, Dhok Kashmirian, Rahmanabad, Jinnah Park, Kachehri, Punjab House, Mareer Chowk to the Railway station for which 16 buses would be operated.

As per plan, 12 buses to be provided for 7km long route from Dhok Kashmirian to Railway Workshop via Tipu Road.

The fourth route would be from Dhok Kashmirian to TB Hospital via Rawal Road. Similarly, 11 buses for 8km long route from Pir Wadhaee Morr to Mareer Bridge via GT Road, have also been proposed for the fifth route, and the sixth route is supposed to be 9km long from Faizabad Interchange to IJP Road, Sixth Road, Rahmanabad stop, Sadiqabad Chowk, Khanna Road to Khanna Bridge for which 15 buses have been proposed.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Engr Aamir Khattak directed the secretary RTA to take all stakeholders on board and to avoid duplication by identifying routes. He further directed that feeder routes should be finalized according to the updated data obtained from Nespak’s fresh study.

Secretary Transport Javed Ahmed Qazi, Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Engineer Aamir Khattak, senior political leader Tahira Aurangzeb, Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi Hasan Waqar Cheema, DG RDA Kanzi Murtaza, Director Development Nazia Sudhan, GM Mass Transit Authority Uzair Khan and heads of other relevant departments also participated in the meeting.