A project to extend the metro bus from Peshawar Morr to the New Islamabad International Airport is also unfortunately facing long delays just like Peshawar BRT. Several deadlines have been given for the completion of this important section of the metro bus that will facilitate especially those travelling from and to the new airport but none of them has so far been met.
Now a new deadline has now been given by National Highway Authority for the completion of the project. The Authority informed the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development that the Metro Bus Service from Peshawar Morr to the airport will be functional by February 2020. The Committee was also informed that 25.6 km road track for the project has been completed while work on electrical part is underway. The fact of the matter is that this project was launched back in January 2017 and it was to be completed in August 2017. Since then extensions are being given but the project is not coming to fruition. Whilst the Standing Committees do get briefings from different ministries about important projects but they must also ensure that work on them also get completed in time with complete transparency. Otherwise, there is no need of holding or getting such briefings. The parliamentary oversight must be effective, more than the lip service. Already the people in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are faced with great commutation problems. Hundreds of thousands of people move between Rawalpindi and Islamabad on a daily basis for different purposes and Rawalpindi-Islamabad metro bus project alone is not adequate to meet the flow of this commutation given the increase in population and expansion of the two cities. We, therefore, will urge both federal and Punjab governments to prepare a comprehensive plan to build a state of the art mass transit system that links different routes in both the cities. For this, the two governments can also sought the help and assistance from Chinese friends as a Chinese Company NORINCO, a few years back, had offered to build a Light Rail Transit (Tram) project for Islamabad.
