CDA to Build Four Bus Terminals Along Islamabad’s Periphery

Islamabad: Four bus terminals will be developed on the outskirts of the federal capital, according to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), for which a request for proposals (RFP) would be issued to solicit bids from private companies.

On Tuesday, during a meeting with city transporters, CDA Chairman Noor ul Amin Mengal told them of the decision and asked them to submit proposals.

The planned national bus terminal will be built in sector I-11, and four satellite bus terminals will be established to connect it to other terminals. Such facilities are necessary for our city, the chairman informed, according to sources. Furthermore, he added that the volume of traffic on the city’s roadways had become intolerable for road workers and that the CDA would soon issue RFPs.

According to him, motorists park their cars along roadways, causing traffic bottlenecks, because there are no satellite bus terminals (on outer boundaries) or national level bus terminals.

The CDA has also decided to work with commercial carriers to establish express service on several city highways, Mr. Mengal said, adding that as a result, we will build a national bus terminal as well as four satellite terminals.

Inquiring about the CDA’s own proposed project to hire the services of National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) for plying 150 buses on 13 new routes of the capital, he said, “We will encourage private transporters to ply buses on various routes of Islamabad and we will facilitate them.”

According to a representative of CDA’s planning division, the municipal organisation desired satellite terminals at Tarnol, Rawat, Satra Meel, and two other locations.

The fact that the CDA had already designated 32 acres in I-11 for the bus terminal, of which four acres are set aside for commercial uses, is pertinent to note. In the absence of a suitable terminal, unauthorised and improvised bus stops are functioning across the city, primarily in Faizabad and along I.J. Principal Road.

After receiving approval from the relevant authorities, only a few terminals are currently functioning on their own property. The proposed national terminal in I-14 was given extensive designing and feasibility studies recently by the CDA board.

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