PESHAWAR: A Chinese delegation has arrived in Peshawar to know the reasons behind the increasing incidents of fire eruption in buses of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project.

According to sources in TransPeshawar, the company responsible for running BRT project, the Chinese delegation will identify reasons for technical faults in the buses. The delegation will present its report to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government within 72 hours.

Since the inauguration of the mega project on August 13, 14 buses of BRT have gone out of order in less than a month. Ten buses stopped while travelling on BRT routes, while four went out of order as fire erupted in them. The sources said the BRT authorities are running less than 100 buses on the BRT route, while seven buses have been sent back to the depot after they developed fault.

On Friday, another bus of BRT caught fire near Gulbahar station. All the passengers were evacuated safely and sent to the next station. Rescue 1122 said the fire was extinguished immediately and passengers were evacuated.

The TransPeshawar spokesman said the reason behind the fire incident could not be ascertained. The reasons behind the previous fire incidents also could not be ascertained that is why a Chinese team has been called for investigation.

On August 09, two BRT buses went out of order in a single day.

On August 31, passengers using the BRT faced a difficult situation due to faulty payment machines installed at the bus stations. Passengers also complain that buses at the terminals arrive with a gap of six minutes which causes rush at the stations.

Critics of the government say the project has been inaugurated without proper preparation due to which such problems are coming forth. However, admirers say this is a huge project involving huge infrastructures and a large number of buses and personnel and small-level problems are bound to happen which will be addressed gradually with passage of time.

The BRT spokesman told TNN that the administration has not received any complaint about shortages of buses. He said the administration is in contact with all the terminals. He said as many as 96 buses are currently being used at the BRT main route.