Mass transit system: Metro bus project to be funded by Turkish company

Meeting held between the transport department and company’s delegation.

PESHAWAR: Yardimeli, a Turkish-based organisation, expressed interest in financing Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) metro bus project during a meeting held between the company’s delegation and the transport department on Wednesday.

Speaking at the occasion, Adviser to Chief Minister Yasin Khalil, who chaired the meeting, said Turkey and Pakistan enjoyed friendly relations and expressed hope that Turkey would also invest in various other sectors in K-P.

“Turkey can easily create a place for itself in the Pakistani market as compared to Europe,” said Khalil.

The official further said the provincial government was committed to overcoming the various traffic problems faced by commuters in the province and introducing reforms in traffic laws.

“Peshawar’s traffic has been divided along various routes and the most important one was named Route 1. The metro bus will run along this route,” announced Khalil, adding a mass transit scheme will be launched from Pabbi to Hayatabad which would provide easy access to Peshawar for other districts.

Yardimeli head Ilyas Kaymaz assured all-out support to the K-P government for the initiation of the metro bus project.

Meanwhile, Khalil also formed a six-member committee comprising three officials from the transport department and three officials from Yardimeli which will prepare a feasibility report of the much-anticipated project in the next two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2013.