PESHAWAR, Mar 21:Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has approved five additional feeder routes for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Peshawar keeping in view the public demand and utility of BRT for daily commuters of the city.
He accorded this approval while chairing 13th Board of Directors meeting of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Urban Mobility Authority here on Monday. Provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Shah Muhammad Wazir, Special Assistant to KP CM on Information, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, concerned administrative secretaries, and other board members attended the meeting. The newly approved feeder routes included 7.5 kilometres Hayatabad Phase 1, 12 km long Regi Model Town/ Nasir Bagh Road, 7 km long Warsak Road, 4 km long Khyber Road, and 15 km Chamkani to Pabbi Road. Moreover, orders have been placed for purchasing 86 new environment friendly buses for these feeder routes.
The board also decided to reduce the security fee of Zu Bicycle from three thousands to one thousand rupees besides granting in principle approval for reducing Zu bicycle fares with the aim to encourage bicycle service and facilitate people. The chief minister on the occasion directed the quarters concerned for necessary steps to make all the feed routes of BRT functional by June this year adding that all relevant entities would have to fulfill their respective responsibilities well in time for this purpose.
Talking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the provincial government was going all out to facilitate the citizens adding that with the passage of time, BRT service would be extended to remaining areas of Peshawar in order to connect them with the city through BRT service. He said that extension of BRT to more areas was necessary to reduce the environmental pollution in the city and the provincial government would provide required financial resources on priority for the purpose.