ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to seek funding from the federal government to procure 106 buses for the capital’s first public bus service.

CDA officials Dawn spoke to said the Infrastructure Project Development Facility (IPDF) – a Ministry of Finance subsidiary – recently told the CDA its bus service project would be sustainable if the authority procures buses itself.

The IPDF said that if the CDA asks private firms procure and operate buses the authority would not be able to maintain the project because of the heavy subsidy.

Based on the advice, the CDA has decided to seek the federal government’s assistance in terms of a soft loan of Rs1 billion as capital investment to procure the buses.

CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said: “We are seriously working on this project. The cost of the buses is around Rs1 billion, we would ask the federal government to help the CDA with this public welfare project.”

He said if the CDA can manage to procure the buses, private firms could be asked to operate the service, and in this scenario the authority would face an affordable subsidy.

“In addition to requesting the federal government, we will also explore other funding options; we could utilise our own funding,” Mr Hussain said.

Sources say the CDA is currently facing a significant financial shortage and its finance wing is struggling just to pay employee salaries for the month of March. However, sources said the situation will improve next month, after an auction of commercial plots.

In response to CDA’s recent advertisement, five firms including Daewoo, Al-Raziq, Faisal Mover and Al-Barak have already submitted expressions of interest to run a bus service on six routes in Islamabad.

The city does not have any public transport facilities other than the metro bus, which runs between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. While CDA administrations have previously promised to launch a public transport service, none of them were able to begin work on such a project.

According to the CDA’s plans, the service will run from Bhara Kahu to Marghazar Zoo (via Dhokri, Aabpara, Polyclinic and F-6), Rawat to Faisal Mosque, Tarnol to Fatima Jinnah Park, GT Road near the Railway Carriage Factory to I.J. Principal Road, Nilor Chowk to Koral Chowk, and Lehtrar Road to Aabpara.

The buses will also act as feeder vehicles for the metro bus service, which has not yet achieved its commuter target. The buses will run on existing roads, but there would be a separate lane for them at all intersections.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2017