KARACHI – Yet another development venture – the much-awaited Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Transit CNG Bus Project – is in limbo because of political bickering between the ruling Pakistan People’s Party and its coalition partner the MQM.
The PPP-led Sindh government and the MQM are at odds over who should take credit for the project, delaying the much-awaited scheme for the past 20 months, well-placed sources in the Sindh Transport Department told Pakistan Today.
Under the plan, at least 500 environment-friendly CNG buses were supposed to be brought to Karachi to ply on the major routes of the city by February 2008. The federal government had announced the project in the year 2006-07 at a cost of Rs 2.5 billion.
It was decided that the Sindh government would chip in Rs 500 million for the project while the federal government would provide a subsidy of at least Rs 700,000 on each vehicle. Last year, President Asif Ali Zardari, during his visit to the Karachi, approved three mega projects, including the CNG bus project, which was to be launched and overseen by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK).
The Planning Commission’s Central Development Working Party also approved the CNG bus project on April 30, 2009 and the city government’s Karachi Mass Transit Cell prepared the PC-I of the scheme. But the provincial Transport Department requested the Centre to bring the CNG buses after the tenure of the Haq Parast Panel-led city government ends.
The majority of the ruling party ministers and MPAs, in a meeting with President Zardari, also opposed the handing over the scheme to the CDGK. Now the MQM is opposing the move to launch the project now when the administrators are in-charge. The party wants the launch to take place after the local government elections as it has a fair chance of taking charge of the city government again.
The sources said that the federal government is also reluctant to hand over the project to the city government keeping in view its disastrous performance in the Green Bus Project, which caused a massive loss to the national exchequer.
Interestingly, the financer of the multi-billion project – the Asian Development Bank – has also backed out of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Transit CNG Bus Project due to the continuous interference of the provincial government authorities into the city government’s matters.
Being naughty: The provincial Transport Department requested the Centre to bring the CNG buses after the tenure of the Haq Parast Panel-led city government ends. The majority of the ruling party ministers and MPAs, in a meeting with President Zardari, also opposed the handing over the scheme to the CDGK.
