Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah prayed the Supreme Court on Friday to withdraw the contempt notice issued against him over delays in the restoration of the Karachi Circular Railway.
In his reply submitted to the court, he outlined the reasons for the deferral of the resumption of intra-city train service. He maintained that the Sindh government had been prompt in launching the restoration work right after the preparation of a feasibility report, which took three months, despite the federal government's disinterest.
He further claimed that the Centre had shown no interest in the scheme since 2017.
Moreover, the CM stated that the transport department had submitted a project summary to the Sindh cabinet on November 14, but the meeting was postponed as he contracted Covid-19.
In his reply, he pointed out that any tender for a project in Sindh had to be awarded in accordance with the Sindh Public Procurement Act, 2009.
He said the Sindh government had reservations over awarding the project tender to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) since previous projects handed to it had faced delays.
However, following the apex court's orders, the tender was given to the FWO, with initial approval for the release of Rs10 million to the FWO and the furnishing of another Rs150 million approved on December 9.
However, the CM maintained, Karachi needed a modern mass transit system and therefore, the KCR should be restored in a way that it did not affect the modern transport system.
He added that his government was willing to release an additional Rs3 billion to set up a modern circular railway system if the court permitted.
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