For the completion of airport metro bus project, they accepted a consultant’s bid

For the completion of the airport metro bus project, they accepted a consultant’s bid from Peshawar Mor to Islamabad International Airport (IIA).

The business will not only design the air port metro bus project but will also oversee the track’s development. The CDA board approved the joint venture of an international and local consultancy company’s bid valued at Rs36 million. The metro bus track’s corridors and stations have already been built, and now the project’s soft components, such as the installation of a ticketing system, station administration, cleanliness, and security systems, must be completed.

The consultant approximately that the airport metro bus project will take eight months to complete. The consultancy business will design the metro bus project and create bidding documents to purchase 30 buses and a ticketing system and station administration. According to the CDA, the firm would design the project and produce bidding paperwork to procure 30 buses.

After compiling the bid documents and awarding contracts, the business will oversee the airport metro bus project for eight months before handing it over to the CDA. After completing the corridor and stations, the National Highway Authority (NHA) handed over the project to the CDA in March.

In January 2017, the NHA began development on the Rs16 billion 25.6-kilometre track from Peshawar Mor to IIA. The project was intended to be finished in August of this year. However, there were delays due to the slow release of funding. There was also apprehension regarding the organization that would be in charge of the bus services. When finished, there was some ambiguity because the NHA had said that its participation was limited to building and that it had nothing to do with the operation of the metro buses.

The CDA had turned down the NHA’s and federal government’s proposal to take over the project, claiming it was outside its scope to run bus services as a development body. The Punjab Masstransit Authority, which operates the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service, has similarly refused to run buses on this track.

The federal government responded by instructing the CDA to take up the project. Meanwhile, the federal government has opted to fund the CDA under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP). Accordingly, the government has allocated Rs300 million to the CDA for the fiscal year 2020-21. “Today, the CDA board adopted a summary accepting the consultancy firm’s bid through circulation. We will issue work orders for the consultant firm after we finish the other formalities,” a CDA official said.

He said they would complete the project in eight months. Ideally, buses will begin running on the metro track during that time. Unfortunately, there are no public service vans or buses available from Islamabad to the airport, which will hardship commuters.

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