LAHORE – Metro bus service is to be inaugurated on Sunday, February 10 (today) by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
A high-level Turkish delegation, led by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister would participate in the inaugural ceremony of Metro Bus project, which would also be attended by diplomats from various other countries.
This project has been built at a cost of Rs30 billion in record time of only eleven months. Due to metro bus service, 27 kilometer long journey from Gajjumata to Shahdara, which took two hours, would now be covered in just 55 minutes.
 Punjab government has finalised arrangements for the inaugural ceremony of Metro Bus service, including security, traffic and other measures. The CM has announced to distribution of a cash prize of one crore among labourers, who worked day and night to complete this great project.
It may be mentioned that this project has been completed in even shorter time than it took in Turkey. In Turkey, 42 kilometer long metro bus system was completed in three years while in Lahore this project has been completed in a short period of eleven months. Metro bus service would be free of charge for the general public for the first four weeks. A modern e-ticketing system has been introduced for the bus project, which would have special reserved seats for women and the disabled.
Punjab Metro Bus Authority has been formulated to run the administrative matters of metro bus system, while an agreement has been made with Lahore Waste Management Company to ensure modern sanitation system at its routes.
Foolproof security arrangements have also been made on the route. Punjab government has completed this quality-oriented great development project in a record period, with its own resources and cooperation of Turkey.
Under the policy of Punjab government, the whole process of construction of metro bus system has been kept completely transparent.
Meanwhile, District Coordination Officer Lahore on Saturday visited all the 27 stations of Metro Bus Route in order to inspect the arrangements of inauguration ceremony.
He started his inspection from Azadi Chowk and ended it at Gajju Mattah Stop where he checked all arrangements of the main event.
He said that all arrangements had been completed for the inauguration of Metro Bus Service today. He asked the concerned officials to gear up all the remaining work till night.
He revealed that students would present dances of different cultures. DCO Mengal told that this project reflects the entire country, so all colors of different provinces of Pakistan would be displayed in the inauguration ceremony.
“Tight security measures have been adopted and police personals and Civil Defence employees would perform their duties on the inauguration ceremony”, he added.