RAWALPINDI: The rehabilitation work on the metro bus elevated road from Saddar to Faizabad is likely to miss the deadline of December-end.

At present, work on two bus stations has been completed while one side road on seven of the bus stations rehabilitated.

A senior official of Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMA) told Dawn that the rehabilitation of the corridor from Saddar to Faizabad at a cost of Rs718.945 million was in progress and will be completed by December.

He said Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) was executing the project. “RDA divided the whole corridor into 20 portions and nine of them have been rehabilitated. Two sides of Shamsabad and Rehmanabad bus stations have been completed so far,” he said.

Around 50pc work on project complete, remaining to take three more months, says official

He said around 50 per cent work on the project had been completed while the remaining would take three months more. He said it was a complicated work as the contractor had to rehabilitate the track while buses continued plying on it.

He said due to the suspension of the bus service because of protests in the last two months, the contractor could have expedited the work and complete it, but it may miss the deadline and take one more month now. He said the construction work on the Saddar bus station was yet to be started.

When contacted, PMA General Manager Operations Uzair Shah said the RDA had been asked to speed up the work. He said after completing the rehabilitation of the track from Saddar to Faizabad, work on the track in Islamabad would be started.

He said PMA had requested the Capital Development Authority to repair the track and the latter had sought funds from the federal government. The repair of the track in Islamabad is easy as it is on the ground and only a few portions are elevated, from Faizabad to 9th Avenue.

When contacted, RDA spokesman Mohammad Irfan said the construction work on the elevated track would be completed in the stipulated time. He said, “60 per cent work has been completed and the remaining is in progress. Asphalt work and replacement of expansion joints are in progress,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the project was completed in 2014 and the federal and Punjab governments almost equally shared the Rs44.8 billion cost of the project. The Rawalpindi section cost Rs19.17 billion while the track in Islamabad, including two underpasses, was completed at a cost of Rs23.84 billion.

The total length of the metro bus corridor is about 23km, including 8.6km elevated, 10km at grade and four kilometre trench.

Sixty-eight air conditioned buses are being operated and they transport an estimated 150,000 passengers daily.

The portion of the metro bus service in Rawalpindi from Flashman’s Hotel to Faizabad having a distance of 8.6 km is elevated while in Islamabad 14.6km is on ground, starting from Faizabad to Pak Secretariat via IJP Road and 9th Avenue.

The track has 24 modern stations for passengers. Of these, 10 are on Murree Road in Rawalpindi and 14 in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2024