Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Chinese firm gets contract for Peshawar bus terminal




PESHAWAR: The NWFP government has decided to award the contract for the construction of a modern bus terminal in Peshawar to a construction consortium of the Chinese government.

A statement issued on Monday said that the provincial government had also directed the contractor to start work on the project soon after completing paperwork, while the consortium had offered an investment of $300 million (Rs 25 billion) for mega projects in the province, including the Peshawar Bus Terminal.

A memorandum of understanding on this account would be signed by the Chinese and provincial authorities today (Tuesday) in the presence of NWFP Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani wherein the consortium would have the task of design improvement and construction of the bus terminal. The Chinese government would provide 90 percent of the project cost as a soft loan, while the remaining amount would be given by the provincial government as grant. The project would be handed over to the provincial government soon after completion on build-and-transfer basis.

The statement said the decision was made in a high-level meeting at the conference room of the NWFP chief secretary on Monday with NWFP Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour in chair.

Bilour said the bus terminal would be spread on 169 kanals on both sides of the GT Road. He said the consortium would be awarded more mega projects, including the master plan of Peshawar, construction of underpasses, flyovers, provision of filtered potable water to Peshawar from Warsak Dam and establishment of economic/industrial zones on vast lands of 400 and 300 hectors in Mardan and Hattar respectively.

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