RAWALPINDI: Five firms have qualified to take part in the bidding process to repair the metro bus elevated track from Saddar to Faizabad next month.

Punjab Masstransit Authority has released Rs740 million for the repair of the elevated road from Saddar to Faizabad.

The cost of the repair work is estimated to be Rs625 million with the remaining budget allocated for additional expenses. After this, repair work on the metro track from Faizabad to Pakistan Secretariat in Islamabad will start.

A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that the bidding will be held next week and work on the project will start by the end of April and was likely be completed within 10 months.

He said Nespak had completed a survey and recommended that the track was in dire need of repair nine years after its construction.

Elevated road from Saddar to Faizabad will be repaired in first phase, says official

He said the Punjab Mass Transit Authority had asked the RDA to carry out the repair work as it had completed the project in 2015, adding the RDA would get funds from the Punjab government. He said in the initial phase, the elevated road from Saddar to Faizabad will be repaired.

Punjab Mass Transit Authority General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah told Dawn that heavy rains in the last two years had damaged the roads of the metro bus service in Rawalpindi and Islamabad that required repair.

He said they wanted to repair the tough tiles on the pavements and it had been decided to change them with concrete pavements. Potholes that have developed on the corridors of the bus stations would also be repaired.

He also said the repair work would be held in three phases, and RDA had been asked to select the areas.

The track would not be closed for repair and the operation of the buses would continue on the construction site.

The total length of the metro bus corridor is 23 km, including 8.6 km elevated, 10 km at grade and a four km trench.

The portion of metro bus service in Rawalpindi from Flashman’s Hotel to Faizabad has a distance of 8.6 km and is elevated while in Islamabad, the 14.6 km is on ground, starting from Faizabad to Pak Secretariat via IJP Road and 9th Avenue.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2024