RAWALPINDI: After five years, the district administration has decided to utilise over 30 kanals on Peshawar Road to establish a bus depot for electric buses, which will arrive in the garrison city by next month.

In 2018, the caretaker government retrieved 28 kanals on Peshawar Road from Varan Tours which had occupied the bus depot of the Punjab Transport Authority. Five years on, another caretaker government has chalked up a plan to use this piece of land for a bus depot and a gas station to generate revenue.

The proposed initiative to set up a bus depot came against the backdrop of a plan by the Regional Transport Authority to ply e-buses on at least six routes in Rawalpindi to provide the public easy access to the metro stations across the city.

Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Rashid Ali said that the process to provide 78 electric buses for the garrison city had started after the approval of the caretaker government and the buses would reach the garrison city by next month.

78 vehicles for six routes to arrive in city by next month

He said that the district administration had provided the land at Chur Chaki near Siham on Peshawar Road for the bus depot, adding that a plan was being made to use this land for the bus depot. The official said in the 1970s, this plot was used for a bus terminal run by the Punjab Transport Department, which catered to the government-owned buses. In the 2000s, this land was used by the Varan bus service before it was retrieved in 2018 from its ‘illegal possession’.

“We have made a plan to construct a charging station in the area, a workshop, and a service station. The PC-I will be complete soon,” he added.

The official said a petrol filling station would also be constructed in the front to generate revenue for the affairs of the bus depot. He said that the routes for these buses had already been allocated.

“In the first phase of the feeder routes project, 78 buses will ply on six routes,” the senior official said. The route between Rawat Mandi Morr and Saddar is 9km long and 12 buses will ply on this path. From Islamabad Expressway (Koral Chowk) to Marrir Chowk, 16 buses will provide services. Dhok Kashmirian to Liaquat Bagh via Tipu Road will have 12 buses running while Dhoke Kashmirian to Chandani Chowk will have 12 buses plying on the seven-kilometre-long route. From Pirwadahi Morr to Marrir Chowk via GT Road, 11 buses will ply on the route. From Faizabad to IJP Road to Khanna Pul, 15 buses will provide services to residents.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2023