Green Line Phase-II work to start after six-year delay

Launched in 2016, the project faced repeated delays due to administrative hurdles

KARACHI:

Work on Phase-II of the Karachi Green Line Bus project is set to begin this week, after remaining stalled for six years, officials confirmed on Sunday.

Federal government spokesperson for Sindh Barrister Raja Ansari told The Express Tribune that the project will be completed within one year - by December 2026 - extending the modern bus service from Surjani Town to Jamia Cloth Market. Once operational, commuters will be able to travel this stretch within minutes, avoiding hours-long congestion on major arteries.

Ansari, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, MQM-P leader Aminul Haque and senior officials of the Pakistan Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (PIDCL) are expected to formally announce the resumption of work at a joint press conference on Monday.

According to Ansari, construction had been halted due to reservations raised by the Karachi mayor regarding the issuance of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for Phase-II. "I, along with PIDCL officials, met the mayor and resolved the matter amicably. The project is now back on track," he said.

Phase-II spans a 1.8-kilometre dedicated corridor from Numaish Chowrangi to Municipal Park near Jamia Cloth Market. The extension includes the construction of three additional bus stations and carries an estimated cost of Rs5 billion. The work will be executed by PIDCL, a federal government subsidiary.

Currently, 80 buses operate under Phase-I of the Green Line project, serving around 80,000 passengers daily. Once Phase-II is completed, an additional 70 buses will be added, increasing the system's daily ridership to over 110,000 commuters travelling between Surjani Town and Jamia Cloth.

Ansari noted that although the Green Line project was originally launched in 2016, Phase-II faced repeated delays due to administrative hurdles. He credited the coordinated efforts of the federal and Sindh governments, along with Mayor Wahab, for removing bottlenecks and paving the way for construction to resume.

A formal announcement of the project's restart will be made during Monday's press conference, he added.