What Bus Rapid Transit means for PTI’s future

Project could make or break incumbent govt

PESHAWAR: Finally, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s baby, the mass transit system, has been given the nod. It has been bouncing of the walls of the realm of uncertainty for more than three years.

We are told that work on Peshawar’s much needed public transport system — which is currently running vehicles so old that the companies that manufactured them are long gone — will begin in November 2016. More promising news is that the eagerly anticipated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will be seen running on the roads of the provincial metropolis by December 2017.

One can only hope these claims translate into reality because the change, which was promised from the outset of the current government’s tenure, has yet to take shape.

Therefore, all citizens can do is keep their fingers crossed and remain optimistic that the government is serious enough to execute this project without any further delay.

The BRT was initiated on February 8 and was to be completed by January 27, 2017, initially. However, background politics and studies on various aspects of detailed engineering and urban design structure pushed it back further. The project has been constructed through a loan by the Asian Development Bank.

The detailed feasibility study of the project is a 161-page document that talks of 387 buses running from Kamboh to Karkhano – literally Chamkani to Hayatabad Phase VI. It will take around 59 minutes to cover 29.3 kilometres.

The project is based on two options. In the low cost model, buses will run parallel to the road and be part of the mainstream traffic of Peshawar. The second, more expensive model, will see public transport run on an elevated structure to avoid a conflict between the BRT and general traffic.

While the details of the project are many, it is important to outline a time frame for its completion. There is no turning back once it is initiated as doing so will have severe implications for the future of PTI and its politics.

One cannot ignore the delays and structural flaws in the Bab-e-Peshawar flyover which congested traffic flow for many months. The inauguration was postponed on more than two occasions, but this is still better than the state of affairs surrounding the construction in Takht Bhai which remains incomplete to date.

The city’s traffic is already a whirlpool of sorts and there seems to be little discussion on an alternative for traffic once actual construction begins on the BRT. There have also been basic discussions of security on the buses, but a more comprehensive system needs to be installed than the one mentioned in the feasibility report. It leaves more questions than answers. Above all, if the BRT is not constructed on time, or more importantly before the next elections for PTI, the whole city would look like a war zone with trenches all over the place. This will allow the next government to complete the finishing touches.

PTI should learn a lesson or two from its predecessors, Awami National Party, whose projects were completed by the current government and inaugurated as their own. There is little to remember of governments who do not complete their mandate.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2016.