LAHORE, May 24: Since the Punjab government is set to receive 100 refurbished buses for Lahore from Turkey by next month, it is losing its interest in getting refurbished around 400 buses, presently grounded at various places of the city by local transporters.

It is learnt that although the government through the Transport Department and the Lahore Transport Company (LTC) had given a subsidy of Rs40 million to private bus operators for the refurbishment of some 100 buses under a pilot project, it ignored several others to get their buses (around 400) refurbished and brought them to different urban routes of the provincial metropolis.

Sources say two technical officials of the LTC are currently in Turkey for supervising the refurbishment work of 100 buses gifted by Istanbul’s mayor Dr Kadir Topbas during his visit to Lahore in the second week of March this year.

According to specifications, IKARUS Bus Company is the maker of 100 diesel buses having seating capacity for 23 passengers with two entrance doors, one for male and the other for female passengers.

“The purpose of the visit of technical staffers is to assist the Turkish engineers in converting left hand steering to right hand, changing of seating arrangements separately for male and female passengers, changing of the colour with the LTC logo, parts, tyres and others, if required,” an official who requested not to be named told this reporter.

He said each bus took at least three days for refurbishing work and, with this speed, the government would start receiving buses by July this year.

He said although the government was focusing on bringing hundreds of new CNG buses worth billions from China under various international agreements to overcome shortage of buses in Lahore and some other big cities of the province, it had almost abandoned its plan to refurbish hundreds of buses grounded at different bus ‘graveyards’ of the city.

“The government prefers to invite local private and international transporters to spend billions for buying new buses from China, but it is not ready to give subsidy to transporters for refurbishment of their old fleet,” he deplored.

He said the government had given a subsidy of Rs40 million to private bus operators for refurbishing their 100 buses (Rs400,000 for each bus) under strict terms and conditions. “The pilot project of the government to refurbish 100 buses was quite successful as it helped the LTC and private transporters to overcome shortage of buses in the city. But later the government completely ignored the project, leaving rest of 400 old buses of various bus companies grounded.

“Had the government helped private transporters in refurbishing their buses, the government could not have only overcome the shortage of buses but also saved time and money,” the official said.

Many countries such as Turkey, India, China were using old buses because of proper repair/maintenance work. But the situation is diametrically opposite in Pakistan for the government is discouraging to bring old and refurbished buses on roads. “If we refurbish old buses and also bring new ones from China or any other country we will not only be able overcome the shortage of buses but will also avoid dangerous mode of transport such as motorcycle-rickshaws,” he believed.

A senior official of a private bus company (Askar Metro) said his company’s 155 buses were parked at an open space on Multan Road after they were grounded by LTC technical officials for being out of order.

“Some time ago the LTC management had pledged to grant us a subsidy for refurbishing our grounded buses, but it didn’t fulfill its promise to date,” he said, adding that each old bus took about Rs1 million for refurbishment.

He said if the government gave Rs400,000 for each bus to his company, it could be able to at least start the refurbishment work of its buses. “We are not against the arrival of refurbished buses from Turkey. We only want that the government should give us subsidy as per commitment so that we can refurbish our old buses and bring them to roads to the overcome shortage,” he said.

Uzma Gul, the chairperson of Varan Tours, (a private bus company in Rawalpindi) said her company’s over 100 buses had been grounded since 2005, but the government didn’t take up the refurbishing issue earnestly.

She said the Punjab government should provide subsidy to private transporters to achieve short-term objectives for the provision of efficient transport to citizens in the province.

LTC Chief Executive Officer Khawaja Haidar Latif said the government wanted to bring new buses on all city roads in different phases. “Although we have got refurbished around 100 buses of local transporters under a subsidy scheme, we wish that transporters bring new buses rather than using their old ones under the LTC regulation,” he said.

Mr Latif said the government had not lost its interest in refurbishing old buses of private companies. “Though there is no progress on refurbishing of scores of old buses, the matter/proposal is still under consideration and soon the quarters concerned will take an appropriate decision in this regard,” he said.