Japanese company to study mass transit

KARACHI: A study team, initiated to make modern transport facilities available in Karachi by 2030 with the help of Rs370 million given by a Japanese company, met the city administrator on Tuesday.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has formed a 24-member team of experts out of which seven members have already started their study and one will visit the country soon. City Administrator Lala Fazlur Rehman said that the government will provide them all possible help to achieve the Urban Transport Master Plan 2030 for Karachi.

The Sindh and city government have contributed Rs14.7 million. The Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC), the Transport and Communication department and the Enterprise and Investment Promotion department will have to play an active role in the study so that it is completed in two years, said Rehman. The Mass Transit Cell of the city government has already been provided the Karachi Strategic Plan 2020 to JICA but the plan will be extended to the year 2030 through this study, the administrator informed the team.

Rehman promised that he will try to make sure that the notifications of the technical and joint steering committees of the Sindh government are issued on time so that JICA’s study is finished on schedule. Experts, such as architect and town planner Arif Hasan, NED University’s Noman Ahmad, Syed Shabbir Ali and Farhan Anwar of NGO Shehri have also been included in the mass transit plan after which the amended plan was handed over to JICA, said director-general of KMTC, Malik Zaheerul Islam. The PC II report of this project was also approved by the Central Development Working Party on March 18.