Murad wants Red Line bus corridor project completed ahead of schedule

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, presiding over a meeting to review the progress on the BRT Red Line project, has directed all utility service agencies to shift their installations from the Red Line’s route within a month so that the work on the project could be accelerated.

Meanwhile, the traffic police would properly manage the traffic to reduce inconvenience to people, which has become unbearable, he said. The meeting held at the CM House on Thursday was attended by Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon, Principal Secretary to CM Agha Wasif, Commissioner Karachi Hassan Naqvi, MD Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Imtiaz Shah, Secretary Transport Asad Zamin, DIG Traffic, Metropolitan Commissioner KMC Afzal Zaidi, KE representatives Sadia Dada and Haris Siddiqui and project director of the BRT Red Line.

Sharjeel Memon said there were two lots of civil works of the BRT Red Line project. Lot 1 starts from Malir Halt and ends at Mosamiyat and Lot 2 from Mosmiyat to Numasih. The physical progress of Lot 1 has been achieved by 9.46 per cent and Lot 2 by 15.3 per cent.

Memon told the CM that work on Lot 1 and Lot 2 would be completed by March 2026 and June 2026 respectively. The CM said that in the entire area of the Red Line Corridor, there were serious traffic issues; therefore, people in the areas were in distress. “I want you to speed up the work on the project so that public distress can be alleviated.”

Memon said work on mixed traffic lanes, delineators, Tipu Sultan Underpass, hydrant underpass, King Cottage underpass, King Cottage Station and Safoora caps were in progress. The CM said that overall effective coordination from all utility agencies was essential through a dedicated focal person to resolve project issues promptly. He directed the KMC to coordinate with the transport department to develop the existing Nullah crossing along the BRT Red Line.

Shah directed the SSWMB to carry out regular cleaning and waste removal from the right of way along the corridor and ensure the placement of waste bins at the jointly identified points. He directed K-Electric to shorten the procurement procedure, which is currently five to six months.

The CM directed KE to shift the utilities for which the PD of the BRT Redline had already paid 80 per cent of the required money. At this, the KE representatives told the CM that they had not been given the right of way to shift their cables. The CM directed Commissioner Hassan Naqvi to give RoW to the KE to get their cables shifted and report back to him.

Shah also directed the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation to work with the Transport Department for the BRT Red Line construction and K-IV Augmentation works. He was told that a temporary traffic management plan has been developed. Temporary walkways at the edges are being constructed along with removing the median island and shifting one lane of the main road to the service road.

The mixed traffic carriageways are also being developed. The CM directed the DIG Traffic to deploy more traffic police at the traffic diversions to regulate the traffic.

He said he would chair another meeting next week to review the progress made on his instructions. “I want the work on the BRT Red Line to be completed much before the stipulated time,” he said.

Sharjeel inaugurates Route 8

Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon inaugurated People’s Bus Service Route 8 from Yusuf Goth to Tower in a ceremony held in Yusuf Goth on Thursday.

Addressing the ceremony, he said the promises made by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur, the chief minister of Sindh, and the elected representatives to the people were being fulfilled.

Memon said the leadership of the PPP is working day and night to provide maximum relief to the people. He said new buses have been deployed in the last four days, and the Sindh government has started new routes, from which millions of people would benefit.

He said that in this era of inflation and intense heat, the government of Sindh is providing air-conditioned buses at minimum fares, ensuring that people could easily reach their destinations. This initiative aims to make daily travel, including commutes for work and education, more convenient and comfortable.

The senior minister said that when petrol prices increased and there was talk of raising bus fares, the chief minister of Sindh said that the government would not burden the people and that subsidies would be provided. The Sindh government, he said, has introduced a women-only Pink Bus service and an eco-friendly electric bus for the first time in Pakistan.

“The best hospitals in all of Pakistan are in Sindh; name any other province where the government provides free treatment like in Sindh,” he said, adding that when people became homeless due to rains and floods, the chairman of the PPP promised to provide housing for all flood victims.

Currently, he said, following the instructions of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the government is constructing houses for 2.1 million families. Floods also occurred in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, “but such initiatives were not undertaken in regions without a PPP government.”

He said that a leader claimed to have collected Rs5 billion for the flood victims. “I want to ask, where are those Rs5 billion? Was that money used for terrorism and social media propaganda, or was it used to create chaos in the country?” he asked.

In the 2018 general elections, he said, the public mandate of the entire nation was stolen, and an artificial politician was presented as the leader. He said the founder of the PPP, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was judicially murdered and sentenced under pressure by the courts, but he did not receive justice.

He said Benazir Bhutto’s government was terminated unconstitutionally; she approached the court but did not receive justice either. President Asif Ali Zardari was imprisoned for 12 years without any crime, and his sister Faryal Talpur was arrested from the hospital on the night of the Eid.

Despite these injustices, he said, the PPP has never spoken against the country. At the time of Benazir Bhutto’s demise, he said, Zardari raised the slogan of ‘Pakistan Khape’.

He said that if the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is arrested, incidents like those on May 9 occur. When the police went to arrest Imran Khan in Zaman Park, they were attacked with petrol bombs. “It is crucial to differentiate between terrorism and politics,” he said.

Regarding funding from countries like India and Israel, he asked Khan must explain to the nation why they are supporting him. Memon said that the party that provided the country with its constitution, nuclear power, and provincial autonomy, including the naming of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is the PPP.