RAWALPINDI: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif will perform ground breaking ceremony of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service (MBS) project on Sunday (March 23).
Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, federal ministers, local members of national and provincial assemblies, and high government officials will attend the ceremony.
Both the prime minister and Punjab chief minister had promised during election campaign last year for providing a mass transit project for the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Soon after coming into power, the prime minister directed the authorities concerned to prepare a plan for the Metro Bus Service project.
The prime minister in January this year gave approval of the project and directed to initiate work on it. Punjab Muhamamd Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on February i, in the light of the directions of prime minister, gave approval of the project in a meeting of provincial cabinet and the work was immediately started for fulfilling the legal and codal requirements and tender procedures for the project, said a handout issued here by Directorate of Public Relations (DPR) Rawalpindi on Saturday.
The project is being implemented with the objective of providing an international standard mass transit system to facilitate the citizens of twin cities. Total cost of the project is Rs 44.21 billion, which also include a signal free interchange at Peshawer More Islamabad at a cost of Rs 4.7 billion. This project will be completed in record period of 9 to 10 months.
Federal and provincial governments will contribute 50 percent each of the total cost.
The track of Metro Bus Service will start from Flashman Hotel Chowk on Murree Road and will end at Pak Secretariat covering total distance of 23.2 k.m. via Murree Road, Faizabad Rawalpindi, IJP Road, 9th Avenue and Jinnah Avenue (Blue Area). The portion of Metro Bus Service in Rawalpindi from Flashmans Hotel to Faizabad having distance of 8.6 k.m. will be on elevated track, while from Faizabad to Pak Secretariat via IJP Road and 9th Avenue up to the destination having distance of 14.6 k.m., will be on ground.
Total 24 modern MBS stations for the passengers will be built on the whole track out of which 10 will be on Murree Road while the remaining will be in Islamabad.
Initially, 60 buses will run on Metro Bus track from Rawalpindi to Islamabad and more than 150,000 passengers will be benefited with this project. About 29 kanals land will be acquired for the project, out of which about 20 kanals will be acquired on Murree Road, Rawalpindi.
There will be no environmental affects of the project as no green belt area will be affected during the construction of the project and this project will also have no affect on overall master plan of the Capital city.
The project is being built to facilitate the citizens and keeping in view the future requirements of the passengers of the twin cities. If in future the load of the passengers increases, metro train after laying train track may also run on this track.
The PEPRA and other related laws have also been strictly followed to ensure transparency in the project and there will be no compromise on construction standards of the project, said the handout.
Keeping in view the experiences of Lahore Metro Bus Service Project, the prime minister and the chief minister have directed the authorities concerned to ensure completion of the project on more better level and standards so it may cater long term requirements of mass transit system and this project may become a sign of identity and reputation of the twin cities in the world.
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