LAHORE: The caretaker provincial government has removed transport department secretary and the Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMA) managing director for allegedly not following the `Mohsin Naqvi Speed` in the execution of Metrobus Shahdara to Kala Shah Kaku extension and the Gulberg-Babu Sabu Elevated expressway projects.

Both the officers reportedly wanted to go ahead with the proposed Metrobus extension project after completing thefeasibility report. They had also solicited a feasibility report to give NOC for plying of public transport on the elevated expressway.

The caretaker government has transferred transport department secretary/ chairman Punjab Transport Authority Usman Ali Khan and PMA managing director Aamir Agiq Khan with immediate effect and directed them to report to the S&GAD for further orders. A notification to the effect was issued on Thursday. The transfers have been notified after a nod from the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The government has handed over the additional charge of both posts to energy department secretary Dr Naeem Rauf in addition to his own duties and till further orders.

It is learnt the caretaker government wanted to extend the Metrobus project from Shahdara to Kala Shah Kaku at theearliest, while the transport department was currently working on its feasibility report.

Since the caretaker government wanted to launch the plan immediately, a source in the bureaucracy told Dawn that the government was of the view that it would take quite long to prepare the feasibility report and go by the book, while there was a need to launch the project at the earliest.

A source in the transport department confirmed that it was working on the feasibility report for the Shahdara-Kala Shah Kaku project but it was expected to be completed by September this year, which was not acceptable to the caretaker government. The department also wanted to follow the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in letter and spirit.

When asked about the connection of the transport department with theElevated expressway, the source said the parent department executing the expressway project had required an NOC to run public transport on the expressway. The source said the department had reservations over the running of public transport on the expressway on two counts the real objective of the expressway would die when slow-moving public transport would be plying on the fast-track road. The transport department also had reservations that there would be no public transport clientele on the expressway as there were no factories in Gulberg requiring labour from the areas in and around Babu Sabu.

`This project is essentially for the elite moving from Lahore`s posh areas on fasttrack expressway,` the source said and added that was why the transport department wanted a formal feasibility report before giving an NOC to the project.