PM to inaugurate Karachi’s first mass transit service tomorrow

Planning Minister Asad Umar says the federal govt is undertaking a total of five mega projects in the port city

Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the port city’s first mass transit system, in Karachi tomorrow (Friday), Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi along with Sindh Governor Imran Ismail on Thursday, Umar said under the Karachi Transformation Plan (KTP) the federal government was undertaking a total of five development projects in the metropolis.

He said besides the BRT, the work on Mehmoodabad nullah has been completed and it will be inaugurated in two weeks while Orangi and Gujjar nullahs will be inaugurated in a few months.

کراچی ٹرانسفارمیشن پلان کےتحت وفاق کےحصے میں 5 منصوبے تھے جن میں سےگرین لائن کا افتتاح کل وزیراعظم کریں گے۔
اگلے 2ہفتوں میں محمود آباد نالے کاافتتاح ہوگا جبکہ اورنگی و گجر نالے کا افتتاح چند ماہ میں ہوجائےگا۔
K4منصوبہ ستمبر 2023میں 26کروڑ گیلن پانی کراچی کومہیا کرےگا۔ @Asad_Umar pic.twitter.com/cM9mXGKUgd

— PTI (@PTIofficial) December 9, 2021

Umar said Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme dubbed as the K-IV project will be completed by 2023 which he said will reduce the water shortage in the port city.

Also read:40 buses for Karachi's Green Line BRT arrive from China, finally

However, the commercial operations of mass transit will commence from December 25 after a trial of about two weeks.

The second consignment of 40 BRT buses finally arrived from China last in September.

The work on the Rs24 billion federal-funded project — conceived by the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government — had started in February 2016 and was scheduled to finish before the general election in July 2018.

The residents of Pakistan's largest city had to wait for five years to see the first metro bus hit the road. All this while, the citizens suffered a great deal due to the dug-up roads along the 26km stretch of the bus route making the commute difficult and lengthy; loss of business as a consequence of the construction work; and a smoke- and dust-filled atmosphere, giving rise to respiratory ailments.