Red Line BRT a game changer for Karachi

KARACHI:

After struggling for decades without an adequate mass transit system, developments in public transport may finally be on the cards for the city of 20 million.

Following much back and forth and paralysing delays, it appears that Karachi’s BRT Red Line project is now also on the track towards completion, after the launch of Green Line buses last month.

In this regard, Sindh government’s Trans Karachi appointed a consultant supervisor for the project some two months ago, while a construction company was also hired around the same time.

Per reports, the project’s foundation stone will be laid towards the end of February or early March. The project will be completed in two years, with tracks running from Model Colony, Malir, at one end of the city to Merewether Tower on the other end via University Road, MA Jinnah Extension Road, Numaish Chowrangi, and MA Jinnah Road.

According to relevant officials of the provincial transport department, the Red Line BRT project had been in doldrums for over 12 years. It was started by the Karachi Mass Transit Cell of the Karachi Development Authority on the recommendations of Transport Master Plan 2030, but due to lack of interest both, the centre and the provincial government, it could never span beyond plans and paperwork.

“In 2010, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) started showing interest in bus rapid transit projects but withdrew from Red Line noticing lack of concern from the government. But now, after decades in doldrums, the plan for mass transit in Karachi is finally starting to take shape,” said an official on conditions of anonymity.

Other than the Green Line that is already partly operational, and the Red Line that is in the works, the Orange Line bus project managed by the Sindh government is also expected to become available to the citizens by next year.

Both projects, the Green Line and Orange Line are funded by the Federal and Provincial governments, respectively. This development has led global donor agencies like the ADB to re-engage with Karachi’s mass transit plans, now providing loans on easy terms for the Red Line and World Bank Yellow Line bus projects.

According to loan details, The Asian Development Bank will provide $235 million, the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank will provide $71.81 million, and the French Development Agency will provide another $71.81 million for the Red Line bus project. The Green Climate Fund will offer $49 million, which includes $11.8 million in grant and $37.2 million in loan. The Sindh Government will also provide funds for this project.

Addressing Red Line, an engineer associated with the project, described it as a state-of-the-art mass transit system. “A third-generation system is being introduced across the country for the first time. Its other components include biogas plants to produce gas for running the buses while storm water drain system and cycling track will also be constructed along the BRT track,” he said.

Speaking further, the engineer said that the project is 26 kilometres long with 24 stations to be built. “All business owners, whose businesses will be affected by the construction of the project, will be duly compensated by the government. At the request of the Asian Development Bank, the Sindh government has also set up an agency for the implementation of the project called Trans Karachi, which will carry out the construction work of this project under the supervision of the Sindh Mass Transit Authority,” the engineer added.

Speaking in this regard Secretary Transport Khalid Mehmood Sheikh said that the Sindh government has already released funds resettlement of businesses falling on the BRT tracks and construction is expected to begin later this month or early March. “The project does not require land acquisition on the main right of the way. Shopkeepers and others are being affected by construction work around the right of way; for which the consultant hired will prepare a resettlement plan,” he told The Express Tribune.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2022.