CM Shahbaz celebrates arrival of Orange-Line Metro in Lahore

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday inaugurated the first set of bogies that recently arrived from China to be used in Lahore's Orange-Line Metro project, RadioPakistan reported.

Speaking during a ceremony marked to celebrate the arrival of Orange-Line Metro, Sharif said the project upon its completion will provide modern, safe, swift and affordable transport facilities to the commuters.

Nearly 0.25 million commuters will travel via Orange Line train daily in the provincial metropolis, he added.

Also read: Two officers held for corruption in Orange Line project

The chief minister said that a distance of 27 kilometres from Darogawala to Thokar Niaz Baig will be covered in just 45 minutes.

Sharif pointed out that despite conspiracies being hatched against the development projects, the journey of progress and prosperity will continue successfully.

The scope of civil works on the Orange Line project involves the construction of a 27.1-kilometre metro train corridor, including 25.4km of elevated U-shaped viaducts and 1.72km underground sections, 24 elevated and two underground stations, depots, stabling yards, etc.

The train, with five coaches, an energy-saving air-conditioning system and systems configured to handle unstable voltage, has been produced by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co, Ltd, China.

As for the financing of the Orange-Line Metro project is concerned, a major chunk, Rs150 billion of the Rs165 billion project, will be provided by the Chinese government to Punjab under a soft-loan agreement, outside the financial realm of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In May 2016, the first tranche of the payment totalling around Rs33 billion was released by The Exim Bank of China.

Earlier in April, the Supreme Court was expected to deliver a decisive verdict on a petition, filed by Kamil Khan Mumtaz, regarding damage caused to heritage sites due to the construction of the Orange-Line train.

However, the SC reserved its judgement and asked the Punjab government to file a comprehensive report to the court, detailing measures it would take to address the petitioner's and civil society's concerns over the matter.