Members of the ruling party calling it a white elephant that burdens the public coffers. Launched in 2015, the project was to be completed before the July 2018 elections but was delayed because of political problems.

Though its leaders explain the government has reluctantly completed the project to fulfill international commitment with China and a gesture that it owned to China- Pakistan Economic Corridor projects after years of delays and political controversies. While the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party led by Prime Minister Imran Khan continued criticising the metro train project, convincing the public that approximately Rs 30,000 crore spent on this project could have been invested for improving the health and education sectors. Opposition PML-N party celebrated the opening of the project boasting it is a gift to the people of Lahore from the Sharif brothers led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. But there are growing questions about the huge amount of debt Pakistan has taken for this project in recent years.

Originally valued at USD 46 billion, the projects were worth USD 62 billion as of 2017. The strategic CPEC is a collection of infrastructure and other projects under construction throughout Pakistan since 2013. The OLMT took six years to complete with the total cost of over USD 2.2 billion, considered a symbol of deepening Pakistan- China friendship. Guangzhou Metro Group and Daewoo Pakistan are also involved in the project. Financed by the Pakistani government and a USD 1.6 billion loan from China's Exim Bank, the train is jointly constructed and operated by China Railway and Norinco International, one of China's largest engineering contractors. It is one of the largest metro projects under Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and an early project under the China- Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The Lahore's Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) is designed to carry nearly a quarter of a million people a day in Pakistan's second-largest city. Commuters are going crazy and flocking in large numbers to get a first-hand experience of the 'gift from China', a USD 1.6 billion light-rail transit system. Islamabad, November 30 (ANI): Across the globe, people avoid public transport systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistan has started commercial operations of its first metro train service in Lahore amidst a fresh wave of coronavirus outbreak.

Imagery in a train to pakistan