Pak-Turk friendship: Istanbul mayor gives 100 buses for Lahore

Inaugurates girls school, monument as two-day trip ends.

LAHORE:

Mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas announced a gift of 100 buses and inaugurated the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system on Ferozepur Road on Monday, the second and final day of his visit to the provincial metropolis.

Topbas also laid the foundation stone for the girls campus of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges on Raiwind Road; inaugurated a monument in his name near Valencia Town on Raiwind Road; visited Mazar-i-Iqbal and Badshahi Masjid; and was conferred an honorary doctorate at Government College University.

After inaugurating the BRT, the visiting mayor drove a bus on the special bus-only lane built down the middle of Ferozepur Road from the Naseerabad bus station to Gulab Devi Hospital. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, as he was a day earlier when driving a cleaning truck after inaugurating a new waste management system, as well as members of his delegation.

Speaking at the inauguration, Sharif said that the first phase of the bus project from Kahna to Kalma Chowk would be completed in April while the second phase for another 30 kilometres of bus corridor would be finished in December.

He said that the new bus service would give Lahore public transport of an international standard. He said that the project would be particularly useful to the disabled, senior citizens and women. He said that highly trained staff would operate the bus service and ticketing would be completely automated. He thanked Turkey for assisting the Punjab government with the solid waste management and bus projects.

At an earlier luncheon hosted by the chief minister, Topbas announced a gift of 100 buses for Lahore and pledged Turkish help to the Punjab government in any sector. The chief minister thanked the mayor for the buses and called Turkey a role model for Pakistan.

At the school foundation stone ceremony, the chairman of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges said that the new girls campus would have the capacity for 900 students. He said that the foundation was educating more than 5,000 children in 18 schools in Pakistan. He thanked the chief minister for providing land for the campus.

Topbas also inaugurated the renamed Kadir Topbas Chowk on Raiwind Road near Valencia Town, where a 40-feet tall replica of Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque is being built. The monument is being renamed after the mayor in view of his active role in promoting Pak-Turk ties.

Earlier, the mayor and his wife Ozleyis Topbas and their entourage visited historical sites in Lahore. They laid a wreath at the tomb of Allama Iqbal and a Rangers contingent presented them a guard of honour. They also visited the Badshahi Masjid.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2012.