Metro Bus

Introduction
In the second largest city of Pakistan, Lahore Metro Bus service is on run
now. It has provided a marvelous opportunity to the residents of Lahore
and its superb to enjoy a rapid and world class transport facility in a very
economic way. On the other hand, it has created a number of new
problems and suspicions among the residents.
Over the past 15 years the rapid growth in population and vehicle
ownership has steadily worsened traffic congestion. Vehicle registration
has increased from 56 to over 116 per 1,000 inhabitants. Cars have
increased over the same period from 13 to 35 per 1,000 inhabitants and
are now increasing at the rate of 10 to 15% per annum.
With a population predicted to rise to over 15 Million by 2015 and the
economic growth running at the rate of 5% p.a this situation will only get
worse, in the absence of any proposed transport infrastructure
improvements.
LRMTS was originally conceived in the year 1991 when Mian Nawaz Sharif was the
prime minister of the country. A Japanese company, named JICA, had prepared the
feasibility of a light rail transit system with a proposal for a 13-kilometre long track. In
93, the project came under the purview of the World Bank. At that time, its estimated
cost was US $400 million (approx.). In 95, Japan proposed to finance the original
scheme with grants and loans of about US $495 million. But the project never took off.
In order to cope with the ever increasing traffic congestion on the Lahore
road network, JICA carried again a comprehensive study on the
transportation system in Lahore in 2011.
The study formulated a transportation plan for the city for next 20 years.
The master plan identified following two corridors requiring a Mass transit
system:
Ferozepur Road Corridor 28.7 Km
Multan Road Corridor 12.4 Km
The public transport demand on the above said corridors have increased
so significantly that a normal bus system would not be able to cater the
public transport needs on the said corridors. The only solution to this
would be development of a Rapid Transit System.So, the Government of
Punjab appointed Ulasim a Turkish based company of the Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality, for preparing the preliminary design of
Metrobus System (MBS).
Based on the ridership data of the LRMTS Feasibility Study, the BRT system on
Corridor 1 is expected to carry 9,000 peak period passengers per hour per direction
(pphpd) by the year by 2011, 20,000 pphpd by the year 2021, and 24,000 pphpd by
2025.
A BRT system can be built in Corridor I with the nearly the same capacity as the
proposed metro system, with an average operating speed of 26 km/h, starting at
9,000 pphpd and increasing to 24,000 pphpd over time.

Merits of Project
The 27-km long journey across the Gaju Mata and Shaadra has
been reduced to just 55 minutes.Previously, people were bound to
use alternate buses for the same route and it took hours to reach
their destinations.
It has a very low flat fare of Rs. 20 per journey (anywhere on the
Metrobus corridor).
Special seats are reserved to women and the disabled.
The ill and the old can easily ride it using escalators.
It is a world class facility introduced for the first time in Pakistan.
This project has put Pakistan in the list of about 36 countries that
use the modernized transport facility structure of Bus Rapid Transit
system including Brazil, India and Turkey.
Foolproof security arrangements have also been made on the route.
The project was completed in record time of only 11 months. The
pace of project was quite impressive for the deputy prime minister
of Turkey who expressed his views on the inauguration day
Transparency International Pakistan has evaluated the project and
declared it as transparent one.
Formerly ambulances were stuck in the traffic of the route, but now
they are allowed to use the Metro track.
Suspicions/Demerits of the Project
Unlike the general perception.The funding of the project has been
provided by the Government of Punjab. Turkish government has not
given a single penny for the project except the promise of 100 used
buses to be provided in future.
The Punjab government has been playing around with rules to avoid the scrutiny
of the BRTS project in the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council
(ECNEC), the highest forum for approval of development projects in the country
which works under the federal government.
The project has never been brought to the ECNEC because the Punjab
government had not executed it as a single project but divided it into a host of
small projects not exceeding Rs 5 billion each as any project more than Rs 5
billion needs to be discussed and approved by the ECNEC, says an official of the
Ministry of Finance, adding that once a project is halted by ECNEC, it cannot be
approved by the provinces.
A major part of the land compensations acquired by the government authorities
for the metro bus project are lying pending because of disagreements on the
amount offered by the government.
The government, through the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), has allocated
Rs 1.82 billion as compensation to the ongoing metro bus project. Most of the
land, which is barely a few feet from the front side of the private properties on
the route, falls in the area between Muslim Town and Bhatti Gate, where the bus
track will pass on the ground
The government launched the pilot project of the BRTS in March-April this year.
An Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) was conducted and public hearing
called. The Punjab Environment Protection Agency (EPA) gave approval to the
whole project though the EIA a very weak one had been done only for the
stretch from Gajumatta to Kalma Chowk. This was very much expected as the
EPA is also a Punjab government entity.
He says the decision has been contested vehemently and the EIA challenged by
the court by a lawyer named Akhtar Awan. The plea taken by the lawyer is that
there should be a public hearing whenever the plan is altered and the one done at
the start is not valid for ever.
There are some points where the roads of the city cross the metro
lane. At these junctions traffic jams are common. The only way to
avoid these evils is to construct underpass or flyovers at these
points. And the cost of these much needed constructions has not
been included in the cost of the project.
Huge Metro Busses use same Ravi Bridge and hence the overall
traffic is slowed down including the Metro itself. There is a plan to
construct another bridge for this purpose alone. And its cost would
be another addition to the 32 billion, the initial cost of the project.
This project is not feasible in the prevailing circumstances as more
than 32 billion has been spent so far on the project of Metro Bus out
of 62.9 Billion of total Infrastructure Development budget of Punjab
(2012-2013).while only 16.5 billion is left for the health of the
whole province. There could be a number of other better priorities
for this huge amount including health and education and areas
other than Lahore.
Chaburji Hockey, Cricket, Football grounds, Chaburji Quarters
ground, GC ground and Wahdat road ground were occupied by
masons and machinery for the construction of Metro Bridge, but
these places are still occupied even many days after the Inaguration
of Metro Service and has not been yet restored.
Where Metro Lane runs along the roads its fence divides the city
into two. The residents have to suffer a lot just to cross the Metro
Lane. It would cast its effect on the life styles and culture of the
localities.
(By: Ammar Saleem Butt Advocate)