Revival of KCR

To deal with the growing traffic problems in Karachi, there is an urgent need for a major transportation project. Unfortunately, the priorities of the government are elsewhere and it seems the city will not see an end to its traffic woes, at least in the near future. The revival of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) was proposed in 2004 but the project has yet to see the light of day. Bureaucratic red tape, encroachments along the railway tracks and political interferences have delayed this project continuously.

Now that the talks to revive the project have started again, the residents of the city are once again hopeful. The committee formed to address the issue of resettling the affected residents has submitted its recommendations to the government, and now the officials are waiting for the Sindh Assembly to pass a budget for these expenses so they can kick-start the project. The proposed project seems to be the perfect answer to the traffic woes — it has elevated, on ground and tunnel tracks for the trains that will run every five stations across the numerous stations across the city. While the idea behind this project seems great, it has yet to be seen whether or not the government has overcome all the hurdles in its way.

The government has to make sure that political parties do not interfere with the removal of encroachments from the tracks. Then it needs to provide the affected families compensation and an alternative place to live. It must also ensure that the money is not pocketed by corrupt officials. The international donor, Japan International Cooperation Agency, will be sending their team to ensure their guidelines are being followed and we hope that they are so that funding is ensured. One hurdle that sprang up in a recent meeting was how most PSDP projects were scrapped, according to the Sindh CM. The federal government has the energy crisis as its top priority and has decided to shelve all other projects, such as KCR, for the time being. In this case, the Sindh government will have to stand its ground and make sure the KCR is actually revived this time.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2014.

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