No new buses for next four to six months

LAHORE: The Lahore Transport Company (LTC) has put off for four to six months its plan of bringing 200 to 300 diesel buses.

An LTC official told The Express Tribune that the LTC was not in a position to implement the plan. “It will take more than four to six months to execute the project,” he added.

Dr Asad Rehman Gillani, the LTC general manager (Operation & Planning), confirmed that the project would  be somewhat delayed. However, he said that the necessary negotiations had been completed and procedural requirements met.

The LTC board of directors held their 16th meeting on Wednesday to review ongoing projects.

The meeting was presided over by the LTC chairperson, Tasneem Noorani, who approved two transport companies with whom the LTC would sign agreements for the project.

Gillani said that it was decided during the meeting that the LTC would ply 200 diesel buses and 306 CNG buses in the coming months. The number of CNG buses would be increased gradually to 2,000, he added.

He said that the LTC would sign agreements with Bandial and ISUZU to induct 100 diesel buses each. “After the agreement is signed the companies would take about three to four months to commission the buses,” he said.

It was decided in the meeting that the LTC would set up 11 bus terminals in different parts of the city. Most of the new buses would have air-conditioning and electronic ticketing facilities.

Noorani informed the participants that a high-tech motor vehicle fitness centre would be set up at Kot Lakhpat. He added that around 250 transport inspectors would also be appointed.

The LTC chairperson, in a previous meeting on April 14, had directed the officials to introduce the first batch of diesel buses within a month.

Earlier, Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif on April 10 had directed the LTC to chalk out a plan for plying 200 to 300 diesel buses in Lahore. The CM had further instructed the LTC to postpone introduction of CNG buses till the second phase.Earlier, the government had in January 2009 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with five investors to ply 300 CNG buses on city roads.

The Punjab government has set the transport sector budget for the fiscal year 2010-11 at Rs1065 million.

The enhancement in budgetary allocation had been made to encourage and facilitate private sector investment in urban public transport system, introduction of environment-friendly transport facilities (CNG buses) and preparation of a Transport Master Plan for Lahore with JICA’s assistance.

The government has also earmarked Rs1 billion for providing subsidies to the companies selected for importing the CNG/diesel buses.

There are around 500 large-size buses operating in Lahore.  Besides being insufficient to meet the city’s demand, the fleet is old and poorly maintained.

In the absence of a proper public transport system, most of the commuters depend on the overcrowded and poorly managed mini-buses and vans.  During peak hours, public transport vehicles are overloaded and people have to hang by the doors or sit on the rooftops.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2010.