The federal government has conditionally cleared the construction of the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System for Karachi subject to the rationalisation of cost — as the price tag of Rs27.6 billion appeared on the higher end.
“The project is approved subject to cost rationalisation,” said a handout issued by the planning and development ministry, after the mega project cleared its first hurdle on Friday when the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) gave it the green signal.
The project, which will be fully funded by the federal government, will now be tabled in the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecenc) for final approval. Once completed in approximately two years, the project will benefit nearly 400,000 passengers per day.
The Green Line will be constructed from Municipal Park, Saddar to K-Electric Power House Chowrangi, Surjani Town. The CDWP approved projects worth Rs20.2 billion and recommended two projects to Ecnec worth Rs30.6 billion whereas eight projects were deferred for a variety of reasons.
Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who chaired the CDWP meeting, directed the authorities concerned to reduce time period for completion of the project. “The Green Line Project is being funded by the federal government as a gift for the people of Karachi,” said Iqbal.
He also asked to incorporate traditional yellow stone architecture while designing the stations, which would revive the traditional identity of Karachi.
Out of the Rs27.6 billion cost that the federal government said was too high, an amount of Rs5.6 billion will be spent by obtaining foreign loans. The scheme is not part of the current year’s Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) worth Rs525 billion approved by the National Assembly in June.
The project is being undertaken on the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and funds will be diverted from ongoing schemes or allocations made against upcoming new schemes.
However, the technical appraisal wing of the planning ministry highlighted many flaws in the project planning and cost estimations. It sought clarifications on partially diverting the original proposed design of the project, the authority letter of prime minister’s directives for financing the scheme and preference of bus transit system over rail transit system, as recommended in the study.
Out of Rs27.6 billion, the construction cost of 21-kilometre long two-lane, dedicated signal-free road will be Rs17.5 billion. An amount of Rs4.2 billion has been sought for procuring air-conditioned buses and paying to the consultants. As many as 105 buses will be bought at a cost of Rs4.1 billion or Rs38.3 million per bus, which appears on the higher side.
The CDWP cleared, in principle, Land Records Management and Information Systems Project of Punjab at a cost of Rs10 billion. It also conditionally cleared construction of Fata headquarters building at a cost of Rs456.3 million. It also conditionally approved special repair of 800 passenger coaches and 200 wagons of railways at a cost of Rs1.8 billion.
The CDWP recommended the second phase of the Machine Readable Passport and Machine Readable Visa (MRP / MRV), project at a cost of Rs3.3 billion to Ecnec. The original project included opening of 30 regional passport offices within Pakistan and installation of MRP system at 99 Pakistani missions abroad.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 29th, 2014.
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Nice to listen that. Lets hope this gonna be done at last.