City managers agreed on Thursday to keep part of Benazir Bhutto Road open for light traffic during the construction phase of the metro bus project.
In a meeting held here at the commissioner’s office on Thursday, the city traffic police gave a detailed presentation to Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed, who is also the director of Rs34.08 billion metro bus project.
Earlier, the district administration had proposed sealing off the road for all traffic from Saddar to Faizabad.
Regional Police Officer Akhtar Hayat Lalika, Chief Traffic Officer Ishtiak Shah and others attended the meeting.
Sources said that the traffic chief opposed the idea of completely closing down the road for a period of 11 months as it does not have enough personnel to man all the alternative routes.
A source said the police gave a detailed presentation of the new traffic plan in which the road could be kept open for light traffic.
The metro bus project will be inaugurated on February 28 and completed by next January.
According to the source, the commissioner endorsed the traffic police’s proposal to keep the road partially open. However the final decision will be taken in a follow up meeting on Friday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2014.