Karachi’s transportation woes: Yellow Line BRT project to stay on paper only, at least for this year

KMTC has received bids from firms, it will select one and then award the contract.

KARACHI:

The Yellow Line mass transit project is likely to stay on paper for another year despite the bids made by local and foreign firms, The Express Tribune has learnt.

This project is part of the six Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors that were proposed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) to improve the traffic situation in Karachi. The Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) had invited international tenders for its Yellow Line and the cell has received around 21 bids from local and foreign firms but the paperwork will continue at least till the end of 2014.

"We have completed the evaluation of the bids," said KMTC director-general Fazal Karim Khatri. "Once we decide which firm has qualified for the next step, we will give them the Request for Proposal." The qualified firms will get 60 days to submit their proposals for the project, which the KMTC and the transport department will scrutinise. They will then hold a meeting to decide which firms gets the project contract.

Khatri is expecting the ground work of the project to be kicked off by January next year and its operation to get start by the end of 2016. The project will be built and operated through a public and private partnership programme.

Green Line

Apart from Yellow Line, the government is also focusing on the Green and Red Lines projects as well. Green Line, the corridor being financed by the Sindh government, will start from Surjani Town and will end at Jama Cloth Market, passing through Nazimabad and Guru Mandir.

"The Sindh government will allocate the funds for Green Line," said an official of the transport department on the condition of anonymity. "When we have the funds available, we can launch the project without losing any time and it will be completed quickly as compared to the Yellow Line because there will be no need to wait for the firms to send their proposals."



Kathri also confirmed that the Sindh government is financing the infrastructure component by itself. The operation of the buses, their maintenance and the fare collection will be done through a public-private partnership, he explained.

Red Line

The Red Line corridor will operate between Model Colony and Mazar-e-Quaid via University Road. The Sindh government has made a commitment with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the project, said Khatri, adding that an ADB consultant will visit Karachi soon to examine the plan and its feasibility report.

Kathri and his other colleagues at the KMTC believe that the immediate launch of the BRT is necessary for the city's transport and traffic problems. "If the projects are not completed in the coming two to three years, then it will become very difficult to move around the city," he said.

According to him, around 22 million transport trips are made in the city per day, of which 5.6 million are made by public transport vehicles. Over time, these trips are increasing.

"Karachi desperately needs the BRT and it can afford it too," said Khatri. "People are ready to pay the BRT fares." Nevertheless, the shortage of funds, bad governance and the unstable law and order are the major hindrances to this project, he added.

What is the Yellow Line?

Yellow Lines is a dedicated bus lane for the BRT system of about 26-kilometre starting from Dawood Chowrangi in Landhi to Regal Chowk, Saddar via Korangi Road, FTC, Sharae Quaideen, Numaish and People’s Secretariat Chowrangi. Sixteen kilometres of the tracks will be dedicated entirely to the BRT and no traffic will be allowed to pass. Four kilometres will be elevated tracks and six kilometres will be mixed with the traffic on Sharae Faisal.

The Jam Sadiq Ali Bridge at Korangi will be widened from four lanes to eight lanes while two other flyovers will be constructed on the tracks. The Yellow Line will have 24 stations and 24 overhead bridges. The BRT is offering an average speed of 30 kilometres per hour and the project has three components, including infrastructure building, operation of buses and maintenance and fair collections. The estimated cost of the project is around Rs12 billion and the estimated time of completion is two years. The operator will provide and maintain the buses and will be paid some share of the revenue for every kilometre that the buses cover. The government will pay a fixed amount to the fare collector.

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