Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project to launch in November

[Salman]

ISLAMABAD: The CDA’s much awaited Rawalpindi-Islambad Metro Bus project will be launched in November for which Rs 30 billion had been allocated by the federal government.

CDA Traffic Engineering Director Azam Lodhi on Wednesday said the Asian Development Bank’s Cities Development Initiative Asia (CDIA) department has already completed the pre-feasibility study of the project. The official said the final feasibility report will be completed by the next month and tenders will soon be floated in the international media to invite bids for establishment of the transport system. A senior CDA official on condition of anonymity said the issue of mass transit system was taken up by the CDA board in Monday’s meeting. He said as the CDA could not manage to introduce a practical transport service through its own resources it has decided to link the project with Rawalpindi to have assistance from Punjab government to make the project a success. He said the CDA chairman and board members showed their consent to take up the matter with Punjab government as they have recently launched a similar service in Lahore. The CDA would also engage Punjab government to ply a fleet of 50 buses. The official also said that a report has been submitted for recommendations on financial and administrative affairs of transport project before the CDA’s board for approval. Meanwhile, he said, the CDA’s Planning Wing has marked out places for bus stations in the capital city for this project, the official said. The sources said the authority had repeatedly announced and advertised to launch the mass transit system for many years but the financial incapacity did not allow it to launch the project successfully. “Now this dream seems to be materialised as the federal government has allocated a hefty amount for the project in the budget,” an official added. The amount allocated through PSDP tackles infrastructure projects that are fully or in some cases largely funded by the federal government using its own resources. However, it is not yet clear whether the federal or the Punjab governments will bear the cost of the Metro Bus project of Rawalpindi segment