Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has secured an honorable mention in the Sustainable Transport Award 2022 alongside Tartu, Estonia, and STA winner, Bogotá, Colombia.
Innovative and sustainable
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the Sustainable Transport Award Committee award a city each year for implementing the most innovative and sustainable transportation projects in the preceding year.
The award promotes projects adopting strategies to improve mobility for residents, the safety standards of public transport, and reduce greenhouse emissions, helping with environmental pollution.
Read More: Is 21st century Peshawar getting out of control?
International recognition
In a tweet, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib congratulated the KP government on winning this honorable mention stating that it was due to the KP government’s special attention and work that BRT had received this honorable mention.
He also said that the BRT Peshawar, with its modern system, has provided the public with an excellent transport facility.
The Federal Planning Minister, Asad Umar, also went on Twitter to praise the KP government for getting international recognition for the sustainable impact of the BRT Peshawar.
Well done KP govt for getting international recognition for the sustainable impact of peshawar BRT. Congratulations to @IMMahmoodKhan and @PervaizKhattak pic.twitter.com/EFi9SWL8hj
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) December 2, 2021
A mixed bag
With a large population, the city of Peshawar had a long-standing intra-city transportation issue, with a majority of the people relying over informal public transport options to get around in the city.
TransPeshawar, the company managing the BRT Peshawar, claims that the project transports over 200,000 passengers on a daily basis.
The K-P government has set aside Rs670 million to take old inefficient buses producing higher emissions off the road and encouraging people to switch to BRT.
Read More: PM to inaugurate Peshawar BRT on August 13, Thursday
According to the authorities, the new buses produce much fewer emissions than the old buses being replaced. This would alleviate the city’s traffic problems and help with the worsening pollution.
On the flip side, the BRT project has faced its fair share of criticisms for running on a deficit and delayed operationalization, among other reasons.
Official sources had revealed in August that the BRT Peshawar faced a deficit of Rs1.882 billion during the last financial year, 2020-21, while it would face an estimated Rs2.790 billion deficit for the current financial year, 2021-22.