Work on an elevated light railway for Karachi will be delayed again as the company awarded the contract has backed out, the city administration has said.
The company is demanding Rs920 million for its consultancy services and the matter needs to be resolved, a statement issued on Sunday quoted Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Administrator Muhammad Hussain Syed as saying during a briefing to parliamentarians.
Part of the Karachi Circular Railway will crisscross the city but encroachments in its path need to be removed, he said. The authorities are facing some difficulty clearing the stretch of land between the Nazimabad Railway Station and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. Subways could be built in areas where encroachments cannot be removed, the statement said.
The federal railways minister has assured that 800 acres will be allocated for the project, which has been on the hold for years.
The elevated railway will be financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The dual track KCR is 43.12 kilometres long with 24 stations. It will be 22.86 kilometres elevated, 3.93 kilometres tunnelled and 16.33 kilometres on the ground.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2012.
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