Pakistan takes leaf out of Delhi Metro's book

New Delhi, Mar 16: Faced with a rising population, absence of a proper public transport system and ever rising number of vehicles, neighbouring Pakistan plans to take a "leaf out of Delhi Metro's book" to rid its cities of traffic woes.

Impressed by the success of the Metro system in Delhi, Pakistan plans to build a mass transit rail system in Lahore on the lines of the Delhi Metro.

The Government, which sees the mass transit system as a way to rid the city of noise pollution and traffic bottlenecks, has sought the advise of the Managing Director of the Delhi Metro Railway corporation E Sreedharan in this regard.

Mr Sreedharan visited Pakistan last week on an invite from the government of Pakistan to advise it on plans to build a mass transit rail system in Lahore, DMRC sources said today.

Mr Sreedharan Corporation was invited by Suleman Ghani, Chairman Planning and Development of Pakistan's Punjab government, for a four-day visit to Lahore to discuss plans and advise on building a mass rapid transit system in the city, the sources said.

The sources said a mass transit system had also been planned by Pakistan Government in Karachi to meet increasing rush of the urban transportation there.

During his four-day stay in Lahore, Mr Sreedharan took part in meetings with local officials, they said. He also visited all the sites earmarked for the transit system.

The sources said that depending on success of the mass transit system in Lahore and Karachi, the Pakistan Government also planned to set up similar systems in other cities of the country.

UNI