Karachi’s BRT project to be expedited: minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said on Monday that the federal government was taking all measures to expedite the BRT project in order to provide ease to the problems faced by Karachiites.

Federal Minister Asad Umar held a meeting to review the pace of the Green Line BRT project in Karachi on Monday. CEO Sindh Industrial Development Company (SIDCL), chairman BOD, Chief Operation Officer SIDCL, Representative from Ministry of Railways, and senior officers from the SIDCL attended the meeting. Chief Operating Officer, SIDCL, Bilal Memon, briefed the minister about the matters related to the Green Line infrastructure progress, procurement update on operational sides of BRT.

Asad Umar said that the federal government was taking all measures to expedite the BRT project, so as to ease the problems faced by the Karachiites, currently exposed to the severe situation due to the absence of adequate public transport. He said that the Federation was working beyond its responsibility to give Karachi its due rights.

While reviewing the KCR Freight Corridor project, Asad Umar directed the Ministry of Railways, SIDCL, and P3A to finalise the Tripartite Agreement to determine the scope of work reflecting the role of each party in the mutually-agreed projects to be initiated on PPP/BOT modes. He said that Green Line BRT should be operational by August 2021. He asked the SIDCL to review all the activities to achieve specific timelines with a partial and complete solution of IITS implementation.

The meeting was informed that the prototype buses would be ready for testing and commissioning by April, 25th. The ITS contract Package A will be signed on Friday 26th March, 2021 while Package B by 2nd April, 2021 and the operational and maintenance award will be given by May 2021.