Sharjeel invites WB to bring 300 electric buses to Karachi

Sindh Minister for Information, Transport, and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon has invited the World Bank (WB) to bring 300 electric buses to Karachi.

He extended the investment offer to a delegation of the WB during a meeting regarding the Yellow Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) at his office on Thursday. WB Practice Manager for Transport Shomik Mehndiratta and Senior Transport Specialist Hassan Zaidi represented the WB in the meeting. Secretary Transport Abdul Halim Shaikh, Managing Director Sindh Mass Transit Authority Cap (retd) Altaf Hussain Sario, and Project Director Yellow Line BRT Ameer Fazal also attended the meeting.

Talking to the WB team, the minister said the government was endeavouring to improve the public transport system on modern lines in the province, adding that the transport sector had attractive investment opportunities for international investors as the government was willing to provide them with maximum facilities. The meeting reviewed the progress on the Yellow Line BRT.

On a proposal from Memon, the representatives of the WB agreed to conduct a joint survey on the route of the Yellow Line. Briefing about the project, the project director of the Yellow Line told the meeting that the project, a 21-kilometer-long route starting from the Dawood Chowrangi and

integrating at Numaish Chowrangi, would cost $438 million. The minister told the WB delegation that the provincial government was also planning to run a bullet train between Karachi and Sukkur and sought their cooperation in this regard.

He said the government had envisaged a plan to run a bullet train. The delegation assured the provincial minister of all possible cooperation in improving the public transport sector in Sindh.