RAWALPINDI: Commissioner Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry on Monday directed the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to speed up work on plugging leakage and seepage on the metro bus stations and the elevated track before its handing over to the Punjab Metro Bus Authority (PMBA) within a month.

He stated this while reviewing the repair work on the metro bus track at a meeting here. The commissioner is also the director general of the RDA.

Former PML-N lawmaker Hanif Abbasi, RDA director finance and development Noureen Bashir, chief engineer Ather Hussain Bukhari and other officials were also present.

Under an agreement, eight companies that participated in the metro bus project worth Rs44.81 billion have to carry out the repair work on the bus track for two years after completion of the project.

Commissioner wants repair work at Marrir Chowk, Liaquat Bagh, Committee Chowk, Waris Khan and Chandni Chowk finished before bus stations handed over to PMBA

Though the project was completed in 2015, the repair work is still incomplete at many sections of the elevated track.

The track is leaking at many points such as Marrir Chowk, Liaquat Bagh, Committee Chowk, Waris Khan and Chandni Chowk.

On the other hand, elevators and escalators in many stations are not in a working condition.

The Punjab Metro Bus Authority has asked the RDA to complete all the repair work before handing over the facility to it.

The total length of the metro bus track is 23 kilometres – 8.6km elevated from Saddar to Faizabad and 14.4km road from 9th Avenue to Pakistan Secretariat in Islamabad.

The RDA last month handed over the Faizabad-Peshawar Mor section to the PMBA. However, the Faizabad bus station is still under construction and will be handed over to the Punjab Metro Bus Authority in March end or April.

The commissioner Rawalpindi directed the Rawalpindi Development Authority to plug the leakage and seepage in different stations and hand over all the eight sections to the PMBA which would be responsible for its further maintenance.

He said all other issues, including earthling of the stations, installation of fencing, dripping, removal of wooden planks, replacement of tuff pavers and provision of firefighting equipment had been resolved.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that all elevators and escalators in the bus stations were working properly.

The commissioner told the meeting that the Faizabad station, which was damaged by participants of the recent sit-in by religious groups, had been repaired and made functional.

However, he added, the glass wall at the station was yet to be reinstalled as it had to be imported.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2018