ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has finally inaugurated Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service (MBS) to facilitate 150,000 commuters of twin cities daily.
All provincial governors and chief ministers of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, federal ministers, political leaders, parliamentarians, diplomats, senior officials and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz workers from Rawalpindi and Islamabad attended the inaugural ceremony.
Addressing the dignitaries on the occasion, PM Sharif said that his government has ended the tradition of delaying development projects, saying that in the past, developmental projects took decades to complete during which their cost escalated by several times. He congratulated the Punjab chief minister for implementing the project in the shortest possible time and in a transparent manner.
The prime minister announced that the federal government would bring MBS to Karachi and Multan and offered services of the federal government to KP and Balochistan chief ministers for similar facilities in their provinces. He said the federal government was also ready to help implement MBS in Peshawar.
Sharif said that the government had passed on the relief to the common man by reducing oil prices and ultimately, the cost of electricity had also come down by Rs 5.50 per unit.
The prime minister said a motorway from Khunjerab to Gwadar was to be constructed which would pass through KP and Balochistan. He thanked the political leadership of the country for giving ownership to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The prime minister appreciated all those who contributed to implementation of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad MBS and announced prize of Rs50 million for them.
Later on, Sharif visited Pak Secretariat bus station of MBS. He also had a ride of the bus to see for himself the facilities being offered to passengers and inspect the newly-constructed track.
Addressing on the occasion, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that MBS was 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 the construction of Rs5 billion Peshawar Morr, which was not strictly a part of the MBS.
The chief minister said there are 14 under-passes and 14 pedestrian flyovers on the MBS route. There were also 32-kilometre-long footpaths on both sides of the track and 45-kilometre-long drains besides 23 kilometres of service roads.
The dedicated 23-kilometre-long signal-free track has been constructed between Islamabad Secretariat and Rawalpindi Saddar with 24 stations, 10 in Rawalpindi and 14 in the federal capital, equipped with modern facilities to facilitate the commuters of twin cities. These stations have modern facilities such as computerised ticketing system, escalators and elevators for special persons and Wi-Fi.
In all, 68 buses have started operating on the route and each bus has a capacity of 150 passengers. Moreover, around 150,000 commuters will benefit from this service daily.
Project Director and Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed gave a briefing about concept and implementation of the project and salient features of the bus service.
Constructed in 14 months, the project’s total cost is Rs 44.84 billion, including an interchange at Peshawar Morr at a cost of five billion rupees. Rawalpindi portion of 8.6-kilometre road is overhead track.
