RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has again set deadlines for the contractors to complete Metro Control and Command Centre and Peshawar Mor Interchange -the incomplete portions of the Metro Bus Project worth Rs44.81 billion.

February 28 deadline has been set for the completion of the control and command centre and March 23 for Peshawar Mor Interchange.

However, a senior official of the RDA told Dawn that the control centre would take another two months as the pace of work on the project was slow. He said at present the bus service was being controlled from a building in I-9.

The RDA official said the contractors were preoccupied by other projects of the provincial government so they could not give proper time to these portions hence the delay.

He said after the completion of two main components, the government would carry out audit of the project to ascertain any fault in the metro bus and it would take six months to rectify the bad work done by the contractor.

When contacted, acting commissioner Sajid Zafar Dall said the contractors had been asked to finish the work within the stipulated time, and said he would make surprise visits to the under construction portions of the metro bus to review progress on the work.

The official said the contractors had been asked to improve the deficiencies in the construction work. He said that finishing work on the elevated road and re-carpeting of some portion of Murree Road would be done once the project was completed.

Meanwhile, the Metro Bus Project Implementation Committee chairman, Hanif Abbasi, and acting commissioner Sajid Zafar Dall visited Metro Bus Project, Peshawar Mor Interchange Islamabad and directed contractors to speed up work.

National Logistics Cell (NLC) contractor of Peshawar Mor was also present during their visit, who told them that 90 per cent work on the project had been completed and very soon it would be ready for inauguration.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2016