KARACHI - Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (rtd) Maqbool Baqar has reviewed the different projects of the Transport & Mass Transit Department and directed them to finalise the paperwork for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project for the forthcoming CPEC-related Joint Working Group meeting and take appropriate measures to increase the ridership of Green Line and Orange Line projects. He issued these directives while presiding over a meeting at CM House on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Chairman P&D Shakil Mangnejo, PSCM Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Transport Asad Zamin, and officers of the Sindh Mass Transit Authority KCR: Secretary Transport Asad Zamin briefing the chief minister said that the feasibility of the project has been completed and it would be a primary mass transit corridor to improve the mass transportation system.
The financing agency of the KCR would be CPEC and implementation, execution and operation would be carried out by Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC).
The CM was told that the KCR was discussed in the 10th Joint Working Group (JWG) forum in September between Pakistan and the Chinese delegation to finalise the updated feasibility study submitted to the China Railway Authority.
The Chinese Delegation responded positively and assured necessary approvals in a timely manner.
The CM was told the federal government has asked the Sindh government to update/revise the KCR Framework Agreement. The CM directed the Transport Department to finalise the Framework Agreement within the next three days and report to him. The CM said that he would talk to the federal government to issue a Sovereign Guarantee against the loan to be provided for the project. Green Line: The CM was told that the BRT Green Line project has been operational since December 2021. It is a 20.9 km BRT system with 80 buses operating on its dedicated route with an average ridership of 55000 per day. The CM said that its ridership in terms of buses and the length of the project was not satisfactory. At this, he was told that when the other BRTs such as Yellow Line and another feeder would start operating the ridership of the BRT Green Line would increase to 150,000 to 200,000 daily.
Orange Line: The CM was told that the BRT Orange Line was 3.8 km with 20 buses on the main trunk. Its ridership has been recorded at 3000 per day. The CM directed the transport department to integrate the Orange Line with the Green Line to facilitate the people and increase its ridership.
The CM assigned the task to the transport department to integrate the Orange Line with the Green Line and explore ways and means to prolong its route so that it could be made feasible. Justice Baqar said that he would chair another meeting to review the integration process.
Meanwhile, caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has said that only sermons and speeches will not work, but the young generation will have to be educated on the basis of dialogue, criticism, research, and creation.
