ISLAMABAD, 01 JUNE (DNA) – The Federal Capital Islamabad will have its first ever modern public transport service “Metro Bus” later this week to provide estimated ridership to 135,000 passengers per day, officials said on Monday.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif Monday said that the landmark project is ready to provide service to public and it will be inaugurated later this week.

“The projects will offer honorable, punctual and reliable transport service to common man with cheap ticket costing 20 rupees (0.20 U.S. dollar) and will save commuters’ time,” said the chief minister, whose province equally shared the project with Islamabad’s Capital Development Authority.

A total of 68 red color central air-conditioned buses, manufactured in China, will provide service to passengers on a route of 23 kilometers between Islamabad and its sister city of Rawalpinidi, one of the major cities of eastern Punjab province.

The project was launched on March 27 last year with the inspiration from Turkish metro bus service and it cost 44.84 billion rupees.

The project is based on “pre-feasibility study on bus rapid transit Project in Islamabad” conducted under Asian Development Bank funding in November 2012.

The metro buses with signal free and dedicated corridor will stop at 24 bus stations in both cities.

According to local media reports, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will inaugurate the project and open it for public on Wednesday.

The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project was started in the capital after its success in Punjab’s provincial capital of Lahore.

On May 13 this year, Pakistan’s Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project at a cost of 165.226 billion rupees to be financed through the proposed China EXIM Bank loan. It would be the second modern public transport service in Lahore. DNA