National News

PESHAWAR, July 29 (APP): Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez
Khattak Saturday approved the implementation and construction plan of four packages of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar.
He further directed the quarter concerned for removing bottlenecks for
smooth facilitation of all commuters entering the main terminal in Chamkani.
He was presiding over a two item agenda meeting at Chief
Minister Secretariat here. Advisor to Chief Minister for Transport Shah Muhammad Wazir, MPA Shaukat Yousafzai, Chief Secretary Abid Saeed, administrative secretaries and concerned officials attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed the development of commercial areas and the
for the buses under the Bus Rapid Transit Peshawar project.
The meeting decided three riding and staging facilities at Chamkani,
Dabgari Garden and Hayatabad.
The three pockets of the rapid bus transit would have vast serving
facilities including controlling centre, depots, washing and workshop, parking and commercial activities.
The chief minister directed to immediately release resources for the
land acquisition for the main bus terminal Chamkani.
The chief minister also directed that the plan for the overhead accesses
to the main terminal should be smooth and there should be no bottlenecks, adding the existing plan should be put on ground under time tag so that the project was completed in all respect as per time line.
Pervez Khattak also directed that there should be extended planning for
the future needs under the BRT.
The proposed main facilities as per the original design should be
developed on commercial lines so that the project stands on its own feet. He also asked for additional connectivity from the main terminal to the N-5 for the smooth entry and exit from the main terminal. It is the third generation BRT that will be a unique model giving one solution to all the traffic problems of Peshawar, he added.
The chief minister said the resource generation and that too of
perennial nature was necessary to make the project a self reliant therefore the fourth package mainly of commercial activities should generate resources.
Pervez Khattak directed to strictly follow the time line for
construction of different packages under the Bus Rapid Transit Peshawar. He agreed to the procurement of buses in two phases. In the first phase, 300 buses would be procured and the remaining 350 buses would be procured in the second phase. He also directed for accelerated work to complete the project within six months.