ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday inaugurated the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service to provide hassle free, comfortable and economical travelling facility to the residents of the twin cities.
The inauguration ceremony was held at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon.
The ceremony was attended by members of the Federal Cabinet, Governor Punjab Muhammad Rafique Rajwana, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Mehtab Ahmad, Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, political leaders, members of the parliament, members of the diplomatic community in Islamabad and senior officials.
The 23-kilometer signal free corridor of international standard has been constructed between Islamabad Secretariat to Saddar Rawalpindi in just 14 months with the total cost of Rs44.84 billion including an Interchange at Peshawar Morr at a cost of Rs5 billion.
The Rawalpindi portion of 8.6 kilometer road is overhead track.
There are 24 state-of-the-art bus stations on the route of the Metro Bus Service – 10 in Rawalpindi and 14 in the Federal Capital. These stations have modern facilities like computerized ticketing system, escalators, elevators for special persons and Wi-Fi.
In all, 68 buses have started operating on the route as of today and each bus has a capacity of 150 passengers. Around 150,000 commuters will benefit from this service daily.
