ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is all set to start two new routes for the electric buses as Zero Point depot has partially been completed.

The new routes are: Khanapul to Nilor and G9 to Faizabad. Sources said 14 of the total 20 charging points had been installed at the Zero Point depot and in the next two days integration work will be completed for starting the charging operation.

“After integration process in next couple of days, our issue related to the shortage of charging points will be resolved and from Wednesday we are likely to operate buses on the two new routes,” said an official.

Last year, CDA’s contractor National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) imported 160 e-buses for Islamabad and currently the buses are plying on 21 routes.

Besides providing logistic support, the CDA is paying NRTC against per kilometre travel of the buses.

The project worth around Rs1.5 billion for construction of Zero Point depot was started in January this year and was supposed to be completed by June. It has two components: site A and site B. The officials said that site B which also has a data center will also be completed by the end of next month as finishing work was being carried out.

Due to shortage of charging points, the CDA and NRTC were not plying all the 160 buses as only 130 buses were in operations.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2025