Sindh CM orders completion of Orange Line in 3 months

Murad also wants to hold ground-breaking ceremony for Red Line on Aug 14

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the provincial transport department to complete the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project within the next three months, as well as ready the tenders for the Red Line BRT in order to allow a ground-breaking ceremony on August 14.

He issued these orders while presiding over a meeting to review the progress of the two BRT lines at CM House on Friday. The meeting was attended by Sindh Transport Minister Awais Qadir Shah, Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, adviser to the CM on information Murtaza Wahab, acting chief secretary Muhammad Waseem, local government secretary Roshan Shaikh, law secretary Shariq Ahmed, transport secretary Abbas Detho and others.

The transport minister informed the meeting that the on-going work on the Orange Line was nearly at its final stage. On hearing this, Murad directed him to complete it within the next three months, as well as to begin procuring buses, with an initial fleet of 25.

"I want the best buses to be procured; they can have a seating capacity of 40 passengers and standing capacity of 80, or they may be longer buses with double the capacity," he said, ordering the transport minister to work out the final proposals. He further advised the minister to talk to the Green Line project management and the federal government so buses with a similar appearance and identical capacity could be purchased.

All set to roll: Lahore’s Orange Line on track for 2020 launch

The chief minister also told the transport department to enter into a facilitation and implementation agreement with the Green Line project management. The project is to be operated by the federal government for three years, after which its operations will be transferred to the Sindh government.

Murad further claimed that he had already approved Rs962 million for the construction of an underpass and mezzanine floor at Numaish, adding that the finance department had referred the matter to the cabinet sub-committee, which would submit its report for the release of the amount.

In response to a question, the CM was told that the land for the Green Line bus depot at Surjani Town had been transferred in the name of the project. The local government department is expected to issue the notification in this regard by Monday.

Meanwhile, the transport department was told to make arrangements to shift a truck stand from Mauripur to the Northern Bypass, as well as getting 100 acres of land transferred from the Board of Revenue for the construction of an inter-city bus terminal at Super Highway.

The matter of land acquisition for a biogas plant at Bhains Colony and the installation of the Red Line there also came under discussion. The chief minister said that using cattle dung for the generation of biogas would be easier and more feasible at Bhains Colony. In response, the local government minister pointed out that the land belonged to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, adding that he would talk to the city mayor to have 40 acres of land allocated for the project.

On the track: Orange Line train begins test runs

Moreover, the CM was briefed that the tender document for the Red Line BRT project was ready and would be floated within a month, while the advertisement for the appointment of a supervision consultant had been released.

Murad informed the transport department that he would perform the ground-breaking ceremony for the Red Line project on August 14. "The transport department has to expedite all the pending work accordingly," he asserted, adding, "The actual service to the people of Karachi will be the resolution of their transport issues with the launch of state-of-the-art BRT lines."

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2020.