Shahbaz Sharif interacted with commuters during his visit. PHOTO: INP
ISLAMABAD: Authorities have decided to erect a steel fence around the corridor of the Metro Bus Service in Islamabad to prevent pedestrians and motorcyclists from trespassing.
The decision was taken after several incidents of buses being interrupted by motorcyclists driving on lanes reserved for the metro buses.
Police had also arrested 23 bikers the other day for driving on the metro lanes in Islamabad.
“A 2.6-metre-high fence will be installed along metro corridor’s package I, III, IV and V in Islamabad,” said Hanif Abbasi, metro bus project implementation committee chairman.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who visited the metro bus service again on Sunday, said trespassing on the metro corridor could risk lives and the government would ensure this did not happen.
Package II, on the Peshawar Mor, has been excluded from the decision since the metro buses will use an underpass there.
“In Islamabad, the metro corridor runs on the ground unlike in Rawalpindi where it’s elevated. At-grade corridor in Islamabad is 10 kilometres long,” said a senior official of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA).
Politics of nomenclature
Sharif on Sunday announced a change in the name of the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project to “Pakistan metro bus project”. The CM also announced new public transport routes to feed the metro service.
“Green-colour buses will be started on routes feeding the metro. Feeder service will start within three months to bring commuters to metro stations with no additional fare,” Shahbaz said while addressing a press conference at Punjab House in Islamabad.
The chief minister travelled by metro bus and interacted with commuters. After listening to public complaints, he directed authorities to increase the number of ticket booths at the stations.
He said over a hundred thousand people were using the service daily, which he termed proof of its success. He informed that work has been initiated on a metro train project in Lahore.
The CM said rulers during dictatorial regimes had turned development projects into graveyards of corruption.
He added that security and cleanliness on the metro bus route had been outsourced and companies selected in a transparent manner.
A third-party audit of sanitation and security arrangements would also be conducted and under the agreement, the company failing to perform its responsibility will be fined, he shared.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2015.
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