CM Khattak directs timely completion of BRT Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has directed the concerned departments to properly monitor the progress on the main corridor and allied routes of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Peshawar and the shifting of utilities at both sides of the main corridor of the BRT, adding that the project has been taken as a challenge and would be completed with the same spirit.

He also directed the concerned departments for the all-out mobilisation by August 12, completion and publicity of design of the project and the simultaneous traffic diversion plan. The diversion plan should be widely publicised in order to raise awareness about the use of route once the project is put on the ground. He also directed the hiring of experts having background experience in such projects.

He issued these directives, while presiding over a meeting on Bus Rapid Transit, Peshawar its implementation and the timeline finalisation, at the Chief Minister Secretariat.

KP Transport Minister Malik Shah Muhammad Wazir, MPA Mian Khaleequr Rehman, the concerned departments’ secretaries, Strategic Support Unit Head Sahibzada Saeed, Peshawar commissioner, PDA, PESCO, SNGPL and Water Supply and high ups of Sanitation Company Peshawar attended the meeting.  The members of the meeting were briefed about the pace of progress on the BRT, the shifting of utilities, finalisation of different packages of the project and other allied issues related to the project.

It was said during the meeting that the project PC-I approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), awaits approval by CNEC.

The chief minister directed to approve the PC-I from the CNEC in order to put on ground different packages under the project. He directed to construct the depot of BRT within the bus terminal for which 900 Kanal of land had been acquired in the Chamkani Bus Terminal and additional land should be acquired for a flyover there.  The chief minister agreed to the cost, construction and implementation phase of the utilities being shifted from the main corridor. Out of the Rs905million, an allocation of 500million has been set aside for the PTCL utilities shifting and Rs150million have already been paid to it, while out of 300 million, Rs250million have been paid to SNGPL. An amount of 100million paid to PESCO for its reach-1, while 31 million were to be paid for grid station.

Pervez Khattak directed the SNGPL for the immediate shifting of utilities and gave a timeline for the shifting. He directed for the shifting of electric poles from the main university road and urged the FWO to accelerate its work. He also directed for the shifting of tube wells from the main corridor as the flow of drinking water should not be stopped. The contractor should ensure working on sewerage line footpath etc.

The chief minister directed to publicise the whole plan for the public awareness so that they could use and follow the traffic diversion plan. The traffic police should be taken on board, he added. The timeline should be followed and the evaluation of one and three packages should be completed by July 6 and the second by July 18. Mobilisation of contractors should be ensured by August 12. The BRT would use one dedicated lane and combined vehicular traffic would use three lanes.