CM wants BRTS projects completed within two years

Officials directed to speed up work on the project, 500,000 passengers to utilise the buses per day.


Our Correspondent June 10, 2015
CM Sindh chairing a meeting regarding the implementation of BRTS projects. PHOTO: NNI

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has directed relevant organisations to speed up the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) projects and ensure that at least 500,000 passengers are able to use the system per day in the metropolis.

The chief minister (CM) also asked the executing organisation to complete the 17.8-kilometre (km) Green Line by the end of 2016, which has already been approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council at an estimated cost of Rs16.1 billion. Presiding over a meeting regarding the implementation of the BRTS projects at Chief Minister House Karachi on Wednesday, Shah directed the provincial transport department to start working on the 26km Yellow Line, designed for  transporting 150,000 passengers per day, and complete the project by the end of 2017 under a public-private partnership mode of investment.

The chief minister stressed the need for beginning work early on the Sindh government funded 4.7-km-long Orange Line, where 50,000 commuters can travel per day. It should be completed by the end of 2016, for which an amount of Rs2.36 billion has already been allocated.

The Green Line project chief executive officer, Saleh Farooqui, said that a separate company has been formed, with a board of directors that include the Sindh chief secretary and transport secretary to manage this project. He said that bids will be invited in the month of July, after which the contract will be awarded in September and project may be completed by September 2016.



Out of an estimated cost of more than Rs16 billion, the federal government has released Rs2.96 billion to his company, he said, adding that Green Lines will have 21 stations with elevator and escalator facilities. "This service will run from Surjani Town to Guru Mandir," he said.

The special assistant to the CM, Omer Rehman Malik, speaking about the Yellow Line, said that all legal formalities have been completed. He added that the cost of the project is estimated at Rs13.5 billion, out of which 15 per cent will be equity from the Sindh government and 16 per cent will be from a private party. He said that the remaining 69 per cent will be in the focus of a soft-loan from Chinese banks.  Transport secretary Tuaha Farooqui said that the work on the Orange Line bus project will start in the month of August.

The chief minister approved Rs30 million for the project and the establishment of the centre in Garden.


Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2015. 

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