K-P government opens bids for Peshawar Metro Bus

Aims to complete project within next eight months

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday opened bids for the much-touted Peshawar Metro Bus project.

A total of five construction companies, including joint business ventures between Pakistani and foreign companies, had submitted bids for the flagship project.

The procurement committee for the project opened the sealed bids in the presence of representatives of aspiring companies and media personnel at Pearl Continental Hotel.



The construction for the project has been divided into three sections – Reach-I, Reach-II and Reach-III.

The first section will start from Chamkani and pass through the GT Road to culminate at Firdous Cinema. Four companies including China Gansu International Corporation, Limak and ZKB, SGEC-Maqbool-Calsons, and Alke Insaat-Akkord Industry Construction submitted bids for the Reach-I, with Rs.9.3 billion being the highest and Rs7.6 billion the lowest bid.

A total of three bids were received for the Reach-II, which will start from Firdous Cinema and end at Aman Chowk after crossing through Sukarno Chowk, Sunehri Masjid Road. China Gansu International Corporation, Limak and ZKB and China Railway and Maqbool Associates-Calsons showed interest in investing in the project. The highest bid for the portion was Rs13.058 billion and lowest was Rs10.917 billion.

Similarly for the Reach-III, which starts from Aman Chowk and ends at Hayatabad, four companies filed their bids including M/S China Gansu International Corporation, Limak and ZKB, Maqbool Associates-Calsons and Alke Insaat-Akkord Industry Construction. The highest bid for the third section was Rs12.1 billion and the lowest was Rs10.8.

Peshawar Development Authority Director General Saleem Hassan Wattoo said that these bids will be checked and scrutinised by technical experts before being sent to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).



ADB has extended financial support for the project and will grant a soft loan to the provincial government in this regard.

He blamed the federal government for delaying the project and claimed that they would complete the bus project within eight months. “We have placed two time-frames for the project. The minimum time would be six months and the maximum would be eight months,” Wazir said, adding that the project was delayed after federal government raised objections against the land acquired for the project.

Wazir also claimed that the tendering process would be completed within a week and the construction work would kick-off between August 14 and August 21.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2017.