LAHORE, April 25: The Punjab government and a Chinese company have entered into an agreement for rapid mass transit system in Lahore.

The Chinese firm -- Noranko -- will invest $1.7 billion for execution of the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System which will prove to be a milestone in the provision of modern transport facilities to the people of Lahore.

“During the first phase of the project a 27km distance from Shahdra to Gajju Matta will be covered while another Chinese company, Fotan, will ply 200 new buses on various urban routes of the city out of which 111 vehicles will be provided by the end of June,” Lahore Transport Company chairman Khwaja Ahmed Hassan said while chairing a meeting of the LTC Board of Directors here at Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Monday.

The chairman constituted a committee led by LTC Vice-Chairman Mehr Ishtiaq to make recommendations within 15 days for the elimination of unlawful transport and maintenance of traffic discipline for the public service vehicles in the city.

Hassan said the LTC would provide all possible assistance to private transport companies for facilitating the public. He said new bus terminals and depots would be set up in various parts of the city for implementing a transport action plan in an effective manner.

He said the recent tour of CM Shahbaz Sharif to China proved to be a major breakthrough in the domain of investment in transport sector. He said the chief minister had made it clear to China that his government was interested in trade, not aid. “There will be no compromise on the standard of new buses and it will be ensured that the buses meeting standards and specifications approved by the LTC Board of Directors operated on urban routes,” he added.

He said 250 old buses had been identified for refurbishment and requisite resources were being provided for the purpose. He said third-party evaluation had been conducted in order to ascertain the extent of maintenance of these buses under refurbishment scheme.

Earlier, the LTC BoD formally gave approval to get Lahore Rapid Mass Transit Project executed by Noranko.

LTC Vice-Chairman Mehr Ishtiaq, Directors of LTC Board Mohsin Lateef, Javed Masood, Lahore Commissioner Nadeem Hassan Asif, Transport Secretary M. Yousuf, DCO Ahad Cheema, Chief Traffic Officer Syed Ahmed Mubeen, LTC Chief Executive J.I KIM, LTC Senior Transport Specialist Muhammad Uzair Shah, GM (Operation) Asad Gillani, GM (Enforcement) Kamran Khan, GM (Finance) Adnan Mudasser, Media Adviser Amjad Husain and Legal Adviser Saeed Raeesuddin were also present in the meeting.