ISLAMABAD: With 12 of the 30 metro buses requisitioned from China having reached the capital on Saturday, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) engaged the National Logistics Cell (NLC) for the construction of bus stops to launch Blue and Green Lines Metro Bus services on two routes.

The CDA had procured 30 buses from China, which were shipped to Karachi last week.

According to an official, the 12 buses were parked at the Peshawar Mor Metro Depot while the remaining buses will be reaching the city next week from Karachi.

Meanwhile, the CDA engaged the NLC for construction of metro stops on Islamabad Expressway (from Gulberg to Faizabad) for Blue Line and from Bhara Kahu to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for the Green Line.

12 out of 30 buses arrive in capital, official says

Within a week after taking charge of the government, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had inaugurated the Peshawar Mor-Airport metro bus service.

This project was started in 2017 and was supposed to be completed in 2018. However, it saw a considerable delay of three years. Mr Sharif on his first day in office directed the CDA to operate the buses on the route within a week.

The CDA had been waiting for the 30 buses it procured from an international company which manufactured them in China to operate the service.

However, due to Covid-19 pandemic, the concerned port in China was closed which led to the delay in the delivery of the buses.

However, following the directive of the prime minister, the the civic body launched the service by borrowing 15 buses from the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service.

Out of the 30 new buses, 15 will be operated on the Airport metro route in place of the borrowed buses while 10 will be reserved for the Blue and five for the Green Line services.

Sources said the CDA wanted to run Blue and Green Line services within two months and for this purpose had engaged the NLC for construction of bus stops on an urgent basis.

The sources said the NLC was already executing the 7th Avenue Interchange project and the civic agency had widened the scope of this project and asked the logistics cell to construct bus stops on the Green Line.

The NLC is also executing the I.J. Principal Road project and its scope has also been extended to construct bus stops on the expressway.

The sources said on Saturday NLC started construction of a bus stop on Green Line near the CDA headquarters.

They said during inspection of 7th Avenue Interchange project on Saturday, CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed also visited the bus stop and directed the NLC for the early completion the 7th Avenue Interchange and of metro bus stop project.

CDA officials said that the interchange would be completed in the second week of August for its inauguration on August 14.

When contacted, Director Metro Bus Project (CDA) Nauman Sheikh confirmed that 12 buses had reached Islamabad, adding that the remaining buses would arrive soon.

He said construction of the bus stops had also started.

“We want to start both the Blue and Green lines in the coming weeks,” he said, adding that the CDA chairman had set up a separate directorate for the metro buses and was getting a briefing on daily basis.

“Therefore, we are hopeful that the buses on both the routes would be launched in a few weeks,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2022