KARACHI: The city whose commuters have to go through a lot of problems due to the absence of adequate and efficient transportation will be getting a number of transportation projects in Sindh province’s annual budget 2105-16.
Provincial finance minister Murad Ali Shah announced in his budget speech today that to fulfill the transportation needs of Karachi, the Karachi Mass Transit Project, with the Circular Railway, 5 Bus Rapid Transit and 2 Metro Rail Transit have been planned for Karachi.
The Government of Sindh will start 5 BRT projects in the next FY 2015-16. These include the Yellow Line, which passes through Aorangi Industrial Area and terminates at Saddar (Regal). The Orange Line Project connects District West to BRT Green Line at Board Office Chowrangi. The Green Line Project passes through the heart of the city and starts at Municipal Park (Aurangzeb Park) and culminates at KESC Powerhouse.
The Red Line Project will operate in the thickly populated area of Gulshan e Iqbal. The Blue Line Project, starts at Bahria Town and it has two terminating points. One ends at the Airport and the other at MW Tower. The BRT Yellow Line project is under implementation in PPP Mode with an estimated cost of Rs. 13 billion. Its route is 26 km long, and willfacilitate 150,000 commuters per day. The Concession Agreement of the Project will be signed in this month and financial close is expected to beachieved in 3 months.
The government will start physical work on this project by October 2016. The estimated completion time is 18 months. The BRT Orange line Project is being implemented under ADP at a cost of Rs. 2.364 billion.
It is 4.7 km long and will facilitate 50,000 daily commuters. We have kept the entire allocation for the project in next year’s ADP. It is expected tocommence in August 2016.
