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The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday cleared the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), worth Rs. 273 billion, as a modern urban railway project and referred it to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for further consideration.
The CDWP meeting, chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Dr. Jahanzeb Khan, was attended by the officials of Railways, representatives of the Sindh government, and other relevant stakeholders.
Briefing the committee, Secretary Railway said a 43km dual-track Urban Rail Mass Transit System would be constructed in three years on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis under the project. The main objective of the project, he said, was to provide reliable, safe, and eco-friendly public transport to the residences of the metropolitan city, Karachi.
He underlined that the project was expected to serve a daily ridership of 457,000 which would increase to one million a day by the end of the 33-year concession period. He said it would deploy the use of electric trains and would be operational round the week. Under the plan, 30 stations would be constructed along the corridor covering the most densely populated areas of Karachi, he added.
The meeting participants were informed that as per the route alignment, KCR commenced from the existing Karachi City Station, moved along the mainline of Pakistan Railway on Drigh Road Station, further going across Shahrah-e- Faisal and entering Gulistan-e- Johar, and Gulshan-e- Iqbal.
Furthermore, they were told, it passed through the older residential areas of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad leading to the SITE area and further to the Port, then reaching back to Karachi City Station.
The CDWP was apprised that the project was a part of the overall scheme for the improvement of transport infrastructure including road network, provision of mass transit facilities, and traffic management in Karachi.
The development of KCR as a modern urban mass transit system will add to the existing public transport facilities in Karachi which have fallen short to meet the incremental demand over the last few decades due to the non-availability of modern mass transit facilities and decline in the supply of large buses, while the city continues to expand.
During the meeting, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission noted that the implementation of the project was a challenge. “We need to invest in Railway as the federal government is committed to supporting so such the public interest projects,” he emphasized.
The CDWP also approved the Gujranwala Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy (Phase-II) with a revised cost of Rs. 3280.369 million and the project of Social Health Protection Initiatives, worth Rs. 3366.148 million, being executed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Source: Pro Pakistani