Pakistan to get 30 Chinese buses this month for new airport service

Islamabad: Pakistan will receive 30 Chinese buses this month for a new service to the airport from Rawalpindi.

The 30 buses for the Peshawar Mor-Airport Metro Bus Service are expected to reach Islamabad after 20 days, government officials said.

Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had formally inaugurated Islamabad metro bus service from Peshawar Mor to New Islamabad International Airport.

The PM was accompanied by Turkey’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mustafa Yurdakul, Chinese Chargé d’affaires Pang Chunxue and members of Parliament at the inauguration ceremony.

Initially, as many as 13 buses will run on the Peshawar Mor-Islamabad airport route. This will be the first bus service on this route and will facilitate thousands of commuters on a daily basis.

These buses, which were originally supposed to be sent in February, could not be transported at that time due to the spread of Covid-19 in Shanghai.

The Pakistani Capital Development Authority (CDA) had been subsequently forced to start the airport service using borrowed buses from Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Service.

Over the weekend, the CDA asked its contractor to change the port and on Sunday, the buses were sent from Zhenjiang Port.

Ten of these buses will be operated on the route from Rawat to Faizabad. Earlier, the CDA had placed the order for procuring 30 buses to an international bus manufacturing company called Higer Bus Company, which had submitted a bid of Pakistani Rs 728 million for the 30 buses.