PM opens BRT: We turned out to be wrong, says Imran

PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated Bus Rapid Transit Project (BRT) here on Thursday and termed the facility as the best such scheme in the country.

Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak and Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri were also present at the ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, he greeted the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, especially Defence Minister Pervez Khattak for the latest transport facility in the provincial capital. “BRT fare is affordable for common people and students. He said the BRT hybrid buses would reduce pollution, besides solving the traffic issues in the city,” he went on to add.

He said the BRT would have a great impact on Peshawar because the city has one of the main arteries that stretched from the GT Road to Hayatabad that gets clogged when under pressure. The prime minister said the main artery was 27 kilometres long while the feeder routes were 60km. “This means all the city will get connected,” he said, adding it was a modern transport system covering the provincial capital in its entirety. He admitted having reservations over the project. “I want to say I had reservations about the project. Today, I want to pay tribute to [Defence Minister] Pervez Khattak because he would always say that you will realise the importance of this project once it was completed. So all I want to say is that Pervez Khattak was at right and we turned out to be wrong,” he said while praising Pervez Khattak who had launched the project when he was the KP chief minister.

The prime minister said the ticket prices for the Peshawar BRT were reasonable. “Our programmes should give priority to improving the lives of the common man. Everyone can afford the ticket which ranges from Rs10 to Rs50,” he said while elaborating on his statement.

He said there were tickets for students to make travel easy for them and hospitals have been connected so that people would no longer face difficulties in this regard. Imran Khan said the project would eventually increase the per capita income in Peshawar and bring about prosperity. “When you have a good transport system, it heralds a change,” he pointed out. Later, the prime minister inspected the buses ticketing system and expressed satisfaction at the arrangements made for the commuters. Earlier, he was briefed on the BRT route which is 27 kilometres long main corridor with 30 stations.

Initially, 220 air-conditioned buses will ply the corridor. Free Wi-Fi and mobile charging facilities have also been arranged for commuters. It is estimated that over 300,000 commuters will use BRT daily.