CM chairs meeting on Peshawar Rapid Mass Transit System Feasibility of RBS approved, PR to issue NOC for Rail Corridor The feasibility for construction of double carriage carpet road on rail corridor of Peshawar Mass Transit and running of rapid bus service on it has been completed that was presented in a high-level meeting of Board of Investment and Trade (BoIT) held here with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair at CM Secretariat Peshawar. Those who attended the meeting included Vice Chairman BoIT Mohsin Aziz, Principal Secretary to CM Mohammad Ishfaq Khan and administrative secretaries and higher authorities of the departments of finance, planning, housing, transport, local bodies and others. The meeting after conducting a detail review from all aspects of the project gave it final approval. Under the Peshawar Rapid Mass Transit Corridor another 26-kilometer long parallel road of 32 feet width would be constructed from Nasirpur to Hayatabad market on which air-conditioned rapid bus service would be operated. Whereas on the other side of the present 25-feet railway track a space for laying a new track would also be left under future planning. It is worth to mention here that a number of meetings of the Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan and head of the project Mohsin Aziz have been held with senior officials of Pakistan Railways (PR) in federal capital Islamabad and Lahore. These meetings were also attended by concerned engineers and technical teams of PR while it was decided that Pakistan Railways would issue no objection certificate (NOC) for the project after the preparation and approval of its final feasibility by the provincial government in light of their opinion. The chief minister while expressing satisfaction over the feasibility directed for arranging his meeting with Federal Minister for Railways as soon as possible so that this important project could not be made victim of further delay. He said that in the wake of Peshawar tragedy, emergency and far reaching steps are being taken for checking terrorism and lawlessness related incidents in the province. These measures, he said, also included the repatriation of the millions of Afghan refugees who besides causing increase in crimes had also become unbearable burden on the economy of the province. Similarly, he said, decisive rounds of negotiations with federal government for the deployment of Frontier Constabulary (FC) on bordering areas with FATA were also in progress, which would not only protect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rather turn the whole country into a cradle of peace. This mega project will connect east west longest ends of the city and will be completed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) with estimated cost of Rs.14.5 billion under the supervision of Mohsin Aziz Vice Chairman (BoIT) wherein three local companies have already offered investment in it. However it was decided that the project would be advertised for global investment on preparation of its PC-1 and formal approval of the board so that besides transparency and competition, large scale investment could be ensured in it. Vice Chairman BoIT Mohsin Aziz, CM’s Principal Secretary Mohammad Ishfaq Khan, Secretaries of Finance, P&D, Housing, Transport, LG and high ups of other concerned departments attended the meeting. The meeting took stock of various aspects of the feasibility and crucial corridor of PRMTS and necessary decisions were taken. The consultant of the project Engr. Shafiqullah, who is retired GM Pak railways, while giving comparative figures of plying comparative mono-train or bus service on this rail corridor that the train will cost Rs.25 billion against Rapid Metro Bus of Rs.14.5 billion. Similarly one side route fare of the train will cost Rs.185 against the bus of Rs.30-40 only. Hence the Chief Minister with consensus decision of the Board, had approved the Rapid Bus Service and asked C&W and P&D departments to jointly prepare PC-1 of the project. This important corridor of Rapid Bus Service will have well furnished bus stops at 13 places while the journey on its east west ends could be covered in less than one hour with ease and comfort. Similarly 81 air conditioned buses would be plied on it through private company. All the buses will reach its destination with full speed without any extra steps or hurdle that will also reduce traffic congestions on other roads of the city by consuming 1.5 lakh commuters daily. Ambulance and fire brigade vehicles on this corridor will also be allowed that will enter and exit at particular places. The carpet road of this system on completion will also give an aesthetic look that would convert many dirty places on both sides on the rail track into beautiful surroundings and spots. Chief Minister made clear that this project must be launched and completed under comprehensive and visionary planning so that it could prove successful and durable in all respects and besides facilitating the local people and resolving transportation problems of the city, it could considerably add to beauty of the city. He said that this project must be exemplary with financial and time saving aspects and its completion must be ensured in shortest possible time. Pervez Khattak reiterated that PTI-led coalition govt wanted to not only restore glory of this historical city and make it neat and clean city of flowers, gardens and parks once again but also make it center of attraction for international tourists due to its best traffic engineering system, knowledge centers and other basic civic facilities. The meeting also took stock of progress so far made on schemes about the promotion of tourism in the province under BoIT whereas further steps were approved in this regard. The schemes included construction of modern chairlift, skiing resort, 3 and 5 star hotels at scenic valley of Malam Jabba in Swat, 5 star resort/hotel at Changla Gali, chairlift from Naran to lake Saif-ul-Maluk, Theme/Adventure Park at Nathiagali, Tourists Park at Hund (Indus River on M1 Motorway), replacement/modernization of Ayubia chairlift, Theme park at Kheshgi Lake, waste to energy project in Peshawar, Jabba Sheep Farm Mansehra and Date Processing/Farming Project Dera Ismail Khan. Pervez Khattak directed all the concerned authorities to submit final PC-1s of all these tourism projects within couple of weeks sharp so that it could be presented in international investment conference being held at Dubai Show next month. He said that approaching such forums with full preparation could attract maximum international investment in all sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including promotion of tourism and infrastructure development.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 08:22:47 +0000
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