LAHORE: The Punjab government claims it will not carry out a trial run of the Orange Line Metro Train in haste, as various tasks are yet to be completed.

“We wish to conduct a trial run soon. But before that we desire that all minor and major jobs must be accomplished 100pc,” project’s steering committee chief Khwaja Hassaan told Dawn on Monday.

The government had on April 18 announced that they planned to conduct a trial run of the train in May, as most civil, mechanical, electrical and other works were nearing completion. The test run, according to official sources, is expected to be carried out next month on a stretch of 10 stations from Dera Gujjran to Nicholson Road – PC-I of the project.

In February, the government had withdrawn its decision to conduct a test run the same month.

“We don’t want to take any step related to Orange Line in a hurry, as we believe it may embarrass the government. The engineers engaged in the project are checking everything minutely,” Mr Hassaan explained. “So we don’t know exactly when the train’s trial run will begin, as we are cautious about this.”

He claimed the project’s pace was going fast, as work on 11 stations of PC-I was almost complete – 90pc civil and over 70pc mechanical, electrical works have also been completed, he added.

MEETING: Orange Line Special Committee of Experts chairman retired Justice Syed Zahid Hussain sensitised LDA officials about the inconvenience being faced by the public due to non-completion of roads. In a meeting, he directed the officials to complete the work by May 2.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2018