A total of 49 BRT buses are parked under the open sky at Chamkani depots and although protective sheds to protect the vehicles from extreme weather conditions were part of the project, they have not been constructed.
A visit to the depot at Chamkani reveals that the passenger buses are parked under the open sky and there are chances of damage to these costly buses due to bad weather conditions.
In the original BRT project, protective sheds for these buses were part of the design but these sheds have not been constructed due to unknown reasons.
A single BRT bus costs at least Rs50 million, the official, who wished not to be named, said, adding that the total cost of 49 buses parked there amounted to Rs2.70 billion.
Out of 220 BRT buses, 171 buses are being operated on different routes, he informed, while the rest are in open storage.
The minister in-charge has already imposed a ban on direct contact with media, so no one is ready to share his or her comment about any project in the pipeline regarding construction of protective sheds for the buses to preserve these expensive buses and save precious funds from going to waste.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2023.
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