PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday directed the relevant authorities to ensure speedy work on Peshawar’s Rapid Mass Transit System, saying the project is meant for restoration of the city’s past glory and facilitate the people by introducing quality transport service.

The directions were issued by the chief minister while chairing a high-level meeting on the Rapid Mass Transit System for Peshawar at the Chief Minister’s House.

Senior minister Sirajul Haq, IT minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, local government minister Inayatullah, adviser to the chief minister for mineral development Ziaullah Afridi, adviser for transport Yaseen Khalil, adviser for economic affairs Rafaqatullah Babar, chief secretary Arbab Mohammad Shahzad, ACS Khalid Pervez, administrative secretaries of all relevant departments while former federal secretary Suleman Ghani, and planning and development department’s urban planning unit executive director Zubair Qureshi participated in the meeting.

Experts briefed participants on the salient features of survey and progress made so far in this respect.

The chief minister said he was hopeful that the mega project would considerably address hours long traffic jams and enable the people to reach other ends of the city within minutes and not hours.

He said the project would also improve the environmental, aesthetic and scenic beauty of the city so that even visiting foreign investors and tourists could return home with pleasant memories.

Mr Khattak asked planners to keep the coming century and not the decades in view to improve traffic system and develop the city accordingly.

Meanwhile, a group of Peshawarites led by adviser and focal person of mega projects Ziaullah Afridi and DDAC chairman Ishtiaq Urmar met the chief minister at the Chief Minister’s House on Monday.

The chief minister said a number of schemes were being completed in Peshawar and among them were renovation of 17km GT Road-Jamrud Road section and a flyover on Charsadda Road intersection at the cost of Rs1,700 million and Rs591.222 million respectively. He said the completion of the projects would help address traffic jams in the city.