The federal government on Monday offered free tickets for the Islamabad Metro Bus service’s new section running from Peshawar Morr to the New Islamabad International Airport, which opened for traffic on April 18 (Monday).

Initially, nine buses will run on the 25.6-kilometre track. As many as 30 buses from China will reach Pakistan in May. The project has been completed after a delay of four years as work on the project started in 2017. Around Rs16 billion has been invested into the bus service.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Yurdakul, and the Chinese embassy chargé d’affaires unveiled the plaque during the inauguration of the Orange Line Metro service.

He thanked the Chinese and Turkish presidents for supporting the BRT project.

“The original cost of the project was Rs16 billion and this was supposed to be a gift for people from all walks of life in 2017. The service was supposed to be operational latest by 2018. Unfortunately, when the government changed this project was delayed and it was put on the backburner,” Shehbaz said while addressing the inaugural ceremony.

“During PTI’s tenure, our defence expenses were mostly met through loans. We would ensure that defence expenses were covered under money generated from the country. This is a very serious situation. So people-centric projects should be worked upon, however, the PTI government switched financing for all projects to loans,” he added.

The government has decided to offer the bus service for free in Ramazan.

Salient features

• Free ticket service in Ramazan
• Distance 25.6kms from Peshawar Morr to New Islamabad International Airport
• Approved in 2017, NHA responsible for infrastructure, CDA for operations
• App for online tickets, bus schedules and routes
• 50,000 passengers can travel daily
• Route starts from Peshawar Morr: NHA Station, G10, Police Foundation, NUST, G13, Golra, N5 GT Road and culminate at New Islamabad International Airport
• Orange buses
• Four buses to function as airport shuttles – separate space for luggage
• Cultural, historical decoration at underpasses and overhead bridges
• Buses to arrive at stations with five minute intervals even during rush hours
• Airport shuttle service to run every 25 minutes
• Operational cost Rs145/hr after the arrival of Chinese buses in May

Shehbaz slams PTI

He claimed that the previous government did not wish to serve the public and slammed them for not thinking about the masses. PM Shehbaz also accused the previous rulers of not thinking of people and travelling in bulletproof vigos and helicopters at “cheap petrol prices”.

“If PTI had thought about the public then this project would have been completed in four hours instead of four years,” he said, adding that everyone makes “honest mistakes” but he would never share wrong statistics pertaining to projects.

Shehbaz was of the view that public-friendly projects should continue while criticising the PTI for delaying PML-N government-initiated projects including Lahore’s Orange Line.

The federal government has borrowed 15 buses from the Punjab government for the Islamabad Metro bus service.

Capital Development Authority Chairperson Amer Ali Ahmed said that interim bus operations were being executed through a Turkish company.

He added that the premier after taking charge of the office directed the officials to “immediately start” the new section of the metro bus service. According to the chairperson, the NHA and the CDA completed the project in 72 hours.

Ahmed also lauded the Punjab Metro Authority for their contribution of 15 BRT buses, which have been painted orange, and the Turkish company has provided assistance.

The CDA chairperson expressed the hope that the bus service would prove to be environment friendly and the authority would start the blue line from Rawat to Faisalabad after completing the feasibility report. Moreover, 10 buses – out of the total coming from China – would be used on this route.