ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Interior Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi has told the Senate that there is no proposal under consideration of the government of Mass Transit System in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
Apprising the House about steps taken by the government to improve quality of public transport system in the ICT during the last five years, the interior minister told that the Transport Sector in the ICT in run by the Private Sector while the government through the Islamabad Transport Authority – established in 1985 – exercise a regulatory oversight on public service transport.
Mohsin Naqvi said that the Islamabad Transport Authority is making all-out effort to ensure safe and decent private sector run transport within the parameters of Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965.
The minister told that the Islamabad Transport Authority issues intra-city route permits only to those vehicles which are registered with the Motor Registering Authority as commercial while the Regional Transport Authority Rawalpindi is also permit to the vehicle plying between Rawalpindi and Islamabad original from various points in Rawalpindi and terminate at different places in Islamabad.
Furthermore, the House was apprised that apart from the Metro Bus Service from Saddar to Pak- Secretariat (i.e. Red Line) the government has already Initiated Three Public Transport Routes in the ICT which are in operations since 2022, they are;
Orange Line. The Orange Line is a Metro Route starting from Faiz-Ahmed-Faiz Station of red-line and terminates at the Airport (Length 29.60Kms.)
Blue Line: The Blue line is a kerb side bus service string from PIMS and terminating at Gulberg Inter-section (Length 20 Kms.)
Green Line: The Green Line is also a kerb side bus service starting from PIMS and terminating at Bhara Kahu (Length 15.5 Kms.)
In addition to the above, the minister added, the 13-feeder routes have also been identified.
The Procurement, Operation and Maintenance of Buses has been awarded and the routes will be made operational in phase staring from June 2024 onwards, he also said.
Moreover, a Mass-Transit System (with dedicated) from Rawat to Pak-Secretariat via Murree Road is also under consideration at the planning level for the Capital City.
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