PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan has inaugurated the long-awaited Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project Thursday, the flagship project of the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
According to details, PM Imran was accompanied by KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak. Addressing the inauguration ceremony, “A good transport system benefits everyone,” adding that the system will reduce commute costs for daily travelers.
While terming the project as the ‘best metro bus project’ in the country, PM Imran said that this will have an impact in Peshawar, because the city has one main artery that stretches from GT Road to Hayatabad.
Commenting on the details of the BRT project, PM Imran said that the main artery was 27 kilometres long while the feeder routes were 60km. “This connects the entire city, will increase per capita income and when you have a good transport system, it changes things,” he added.
“The cost of Rs10 to 50 is enough and doable by daily wagers. If a daily wager cannot find a job where he can go to another place,” PM Imran added. He informed that the tickets for students will also be introduced.
The Prime Minister also admitted to having reservations about the project. However, he lauded the performance of Pervez Khattak and said, “Pervez Khattak always said that you will realise the importance of this project once it is completed. So all I want to say is that Pervez Khattak was right and we turned out to be wrong.”
The premier expressed satisfaction over the eco-friendly aspect of the transportation medium and said that the buses were being run on a hybrid of diesel and another petroleum source that will reduce pollution as well.
‘Ehsaas Nashonuma Programme’
Earlier today (Thursday), the Prime Minister also launched the Ehsaas Nashonuma Programme in Khyber district to prevent stunted growth in children. The programme aimed to provide nutritious food and stipend to deserving families to check to stunt in the country.
Ehsaas Nashonuma is the first anti-stunting program in the country’s history. The budget for this year is 8.52 billion rupees.
Under this program, the deserving families will be provided with nutritious food along with a quarterly stipend, which will be two thousand rupees for girls and fifteen hundred rupees for boys.
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