PESHAWAR: Eleven companies, including international and local joint ventures, have so far submitted bids for the proposed multi-billion dollars Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

The bidding process, which began on June 29, is likely to complete during the current month and thus, leading to the formal groundbreaking ceremony is likely to take place by August 14.

Officials familiar with process told Dawn that the bidding process is likely to complete during the current month leading to formal groundbreaking of the megaproject which is likely to take place by August 14.

Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) had earlier on Monday approved BRT at an estimated cost of Rs49.34 billion.

Bidding process to complete this month, groundbreaking likely next month

Central Development Working Party, Ministry of Planning and Development’s clearing house for provincial projects exceeding Rs10 billion cost had cleared the project on technical basis earlier in May this year.

Officials told Dawn that the deadline for submission of bids for reach 1 and III was initially set for June 19 but was later extended to June 29, while for reach II, bids were submitted on Monday.

About 26 kilometers long BRT corridor has been divided into three reaches i.e. I, II and III. Reach I starts from Chamkani and runs up to the Firdous Chowk, while II runs from Amn Chowk near Gora Qabristan and runs till the end point of the corridor in Hayatabad.

Reach-II, which passes through city most populous and congested areas of city and involves building of elevated portion of the corridor starts from Balahisar Fort and ends at Amn Chowk.

A senior project official, who did not want to be named, said 11 companies had submitted bids for the three phases of the project.

He said eight companies had submitted bids for reach I and II of the project and four others for the reach II.

The official said among those interested in reach I and II were four Chinese companies, an Azeri company and National Logistic Cell (NLC), while there were also some joint ventures also among the bidders.

Three companies, including two Chinese and a joint venture of Turkish and Pakistani companies, have submitted bids for reach-II, the official said.

Another senior official told Dawn that they were the bidding process and other requirements would be fulfilled during the current month.

“The groundbreaking is likely to take place on August 14. The contractor will be mobilised by the last week of the same month,” he said.

Regarding the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan for the project, the official said the Ecnec’s approval was the last requirement for the project’s execution and that came last Monday.

He said in addition to ADB, the European Investment Bank and French Development Agency, too, had committed to providing $75 million each for the project.

The official said the companies, which would be awarded different reaches of the project, had to complete their respective work within six months.

“They will work day and night to complete the project on time,” he said.

About traffic problems to be caused by the digging of city roads form one end to the other, the official said 14 alternative routes had already been identified, while work had also been carried out on them to accommodate the higher number of vehicles.

He added that the BRT corridor would be partially closed to traffic during the execution of the project.

The official insisted that the Peshawar BRT would cost less compared to similar projects executed in Islamabad, Multan and Lahore.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2017