PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Monday said he would personally monitor the progress on the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit project to ensure speedy completion and early launch of the service for the people.

“My government wants to give relief to the people in terms of efficient commuting and transportation in Peshawar,” he told a meeting on the BRT project here.

Minister-designate for finance Taimur Jahgra, minister-designate for information technology Kamran Bangah, MPA Arbab Jehandad, spokesman for the government Shaukat Yousafzai, chief secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, additional chief secretary Shehzad Bangash, transport secretary, Peshawar commissioner, director general (transport) and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

The participants examined work on the project, hurdles to its early completion, and coordination among the relevant departments, said a statement issued here.

Mr Mahmood asked the relevant authorities to go all-out for the early launch of the bus service for the benefit of the people.

He said he would regularly monitor the project and ensure removal of the hurdles to it.

The chief minister ordered the removal of poles and transmission lines from the project route and called for better coordination among relevant departments for the project’s successful execution.

He said the BRT was a transparent project and therefore, his government would welcome its scrutiny at all levels. Mr Mahmood asked the authorities to remove debris from both sides of the BRT route and ensure smooth vehicular traffic there.

He also ordered cleanliness and plantation all along the BRT route.

“It is a unique third generation golden standard BRT having unique features, which other projects of the same nature in the country lack,” he said ordering the reconstruction of roads on both sides of the BRT route from Chamkani to Karkhano Market.

He said the government won’t give any subsidy on BRT service fare.

Also in the day, the chief minister chaired a meeting on ‘unscheduled loadshedding’ and ordered the upgradation of grid stations and transmission lines.

He said the existing system didn’t have the capacity for the required level of power supply and so, power supply and distribution system collapsed causing losses to the government and depriving the people of electricity.

Mr Mahmood ordered the immediate connecting of the Daral hydropower stations with the national grid.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2018