However, the pre-condition of cost rationalisation appears to be one of the many thorns already present in the path of this project. Apart from the Rs17.5 billion marked for the construction of the 21-kilometre long road, Rs4.1 billion will be used to buy 105 buses, taking the project’s per unit cost to Rs38.3 million. This figure seems exorbitantly high and will have to be brought down if Ecnec is to give a green signal to the project. If not, then it could face the same fate as the many mass transit projects that had been announced for Karachi before. It should be noted that Rs5.6 billion out of the total cost will be obtained through foreign loans. This is another feature of the federal government’s tactics, which is all too willing to knock on the doors of international lenders. Two years is the time stated to complete the project although the government is looking to reduce this duration.
With pressure on the PML-N government mounting from every corner, focusing on infrastructural projects seems to be its strategy to soothe the public. Old buses, re-assembled from scratch, and rickshaws are the major sources of public transport available for the people of Karachi. For Pakistan’s largest city, as well as its financial hub, the absence of an organised transport system is a jaw-dropping fact. Perhaps, this is a curse that Karachiites have to live with, but one hopes things change for the better this time.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2014.
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