LAHORE: Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakhat has said the previous Punjab government neither evolved a transport policy nor introduced any policy mechanism, rules and regulations for the private transport sector.

Chairing a review meeting of Chief Minister Special Monitoring Unit (SMU) of transport department here on Monday, the finance minister said the incumbent government was focusing on evolving a proper transport policy for provision of facilities to the public, regularisation of private transport companies, commercialisation of general bus stands and automated system for the collection of taxes.

The minister instructed the department to provide all details of route permits, number of buses, condition and capacity of the buses in accordance with road infrastructure to the SMU.

He said the private transport companies should also be taken on board while evolving the rules and regulations for revenue collection. Additionally, buses routes should be expanded to the special economic zones, and repairing and maintenance of the general bus stand should be completed through public private partnership model.

The minister said the metro buses fare would be revised in accordance with the affordability of the users after the cabinet approval.

The Punjab transport department secretary informed that 16.47 million vehicles were registered in Punjab, while 207,789 route permits were issued in 2017-18 which generated Rs475.6 million revenue. Currently, he said, Lahore, Multan, and Ralwalpindi metro buses, Orange Line Metro Train, Lahore and Multan feeder buses, vehicle inspections and certification of axle load management were ongoing projects. He said a modern bus terminal project was also under way.

The meeting was attended by Punjab Minister for Transport Jahanzab Khan Kitchi, Adviser to chief Minister on Finance Dr Salman Shah and head of SMU Fazel Asif.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2019