Red tape delays Karachi's Blue Line BRT

Project likely to kick off in first quarter of next year if all goes well

KARACHI: The grand plans to connect a gated community off Super Highway to the rest of the city with the Blue Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system have taken a backseat even though it was the first such project to take concrete shape in the city.

It appears that bureaucratic red tape and the government’s apathy are the main reason behind the delay. Its operations are now expected to start by the first quarter of next year, if all goes well.



The Blue Line is part of the six BRT corridors proposed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to improve the traffic situation in Karachi. However, the case of the Blue Line is different from that of other BRT Lines as it is being funded by a private real estate developer.

The Blue Line was planned to run from Super Highway, all the way to Tower through Sharae Pakistan. However, it will now run only up to Guru Mandir from where it will join the federal government-funded Green Line, which goes all the way to Tower.



The route has now been shortened to 54 kilometres, with 30km as its construction length. From the gated community till Toll Plaza, the Blue Line will run in a segregated lane. Till Sohrab Goth, it will run in mixed traffic but there will be dedicated tracks at stations. After Sohrab Goth through Sharae Pakistan and Jehangir Road, the Blue Line will run in a segregated lane all the way to Guru Mandir.

Long-winded applications

The process of getting approval for a BRT, even if you have the funds sorted out can be tedious. When the real estate developer showed interest in the Blue Line BRT, it submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Sindh government.

Ashar Lodhi of Exponent Engineering Pvt Ltd, which was hired by the real estate developer to design the route of the Blue Line, shared that the developer wrote a letter to the Sindh government in April, 2014. The summary, he said, was approved by the government and the developer was asked to submit a proposal. It was then that Exponent Engineering Pvt Ltd was hired as a consultant for the project.



According to Lodhi, the first unsolicited proposal was submitted in February, 2015, followed by a second one in May, 2015, due to certain differences with the government over its design. After that, the Sindh government was supposed to hire a vetting consultant for the proposal, for which the bidding kicked off, much lately, in November, 2015, he shared. This is also when the Green Line BRT came up with complete homework to start its construction all the way from Surjani Town to Guru Mandir.

Initially, it was the Blue Line, which was supposed to construct a segregated track from Guru Mandir to Tower. However, delays in the construction of the Blue Line forced the federal government to take up these tracks as well. It was around this time that the Sindh government told Blue Line to limit their construction design to Guru Mandir, said Lodhi. Therefore, they submitted a third proposal in April, this year, and now the Sindh government has finally hired a vetting consultant.

“The negotiation with the consultant kicked off, which took ample time,” he said, adding that they are still awaiting a final design approval from the Sindh government.

Once the design is finalised, the Sindh government will launch a Request for Proposal as per the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) rules and go for international bidding. “This has to be done to see if any other investor is interested,” he said. However, the initial proponent has some advantage as per the SPPRA rules. After the open competition, if the initial proponent gets the tender, the concessional agreement is inked and the construction can kick off after the financial close, he explained.

Design flaws

For his part, Mass Transit Cell director-general Athar Khan said there were several technical flaws in the design of the Blue Line. “Beyond Sohrab Goth, the construction of the motorway is underway and there we have proposed Blue Line to run in mixed traffic,” he pointed out. The estimated cost of the project has also reduced since the route ends at Guru Mandir instead of Tower, he added.

Khan said that the larger portion of the project cost will be borne by the real estate developer but that the Sindh government will also have its equity in the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2016.