Rs13.5b for transport sector

LAHORE: Punjab government has allocated Rs13.5billion for transport sector in the budget under the Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2019-20 which is almost Rs20billion less than the allocation of the previous fiscal year.

As per the budget documents, Rs13.23billion will be spent on the ongoing schemes while over Rs268million will be spent on the new schemes. Some of the new initiatives, as mentioned in the budget documents, are completion and operationalisation of Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project for which an amount of Rs8.8billion has been earmarked and the construction of modern intercity bus terminals at Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan. Similarly, Rs278million will be spent on the introduction of Axle Load Management Regime to control overloading of public service vehicles while Rs50million for the construction of 13 vehicles inspection and certification system (VICS) stations.