The Sindh chief minister has said that his government has carried out a lot of development works in Karachi. “We have given you underpasses, flyovers and now giving you an efficient transport system. This is your government and it is working for your welfare.”
The chief minister expressed these views while addressing a gathering after performing ground-breaking ceremony of Orange Line at TMA Park, Korangi, District West, on Friday. The ceremony was attended by provincial Transport Minister Mumtaz Jakharni, Special Assistant to CM on Finance Umer Rehman, Special Assistant to CM Waqar Mehdi, Secretary Transport Taha Farooqi and others.
The chief minister said the PPP government had given ownership to Karachi and launched a number of projects including K-IV for which all formalities were completed the other day. It would provide 260 MGD water to Karachi which would cater more than 80 per cent requirement of the city.
He said the other major problem of the city was transport. “We have conceived six rapid bus transport (RBT) systems. The federal government is constructing Green Line while the Sindh government is establishing Orange Line from its own resources which will be launched today. The rest of two lines would be carried out through public-private partnership,” he said.
The CM recalled that when he was minister for rehabilitation during the tenure of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, some Behari students of the Karachi University went to his office in Tughluq House and started hue and cry for their settlement. “On behalf of Prime Minister Zulkfikar Ali Bhutto, he had announced to allocate 25,000 acre land in Korangi. This Korangi area was established by shaheed Bhutto and PPP used to win from this area. Afaq Shahid was our MNA,” he recalled.
He said with the establishment of communication system, like transport, the trade and commercial activities would further flourish in the city. Sindh Transport Minister Mumtaz Jakhrani said that some people had started politics of water. “I ask them why they failed to provide water to Karachi when they were in power,” he wondered, and added that it was the PPP government which was looking after the Karachiites properly.
He said the Orange Line was initially being established to cover four kilometers and before its completion it would be expanded on nine kilometers.
Special Assistant to Chief Minister Umer Rehman addressed the gathering and said that the Sindh government was constructing Orange Line project from its own resources. The other transport projects would be carried out on public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
Secretary Transport Taha Farooqui spelled out the salient features of the project and said it was being constructed at a cost of Rs1.14 billion. He claimed to have saved over Rs1 billion by rationalising its cost. He said it was originally a four kilometer project which has the capacity of over 50,000 commuters per hour.
He said there was no system of integration among six BRTs in the city and such system did not exist anywhere in Pakistan. “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has started developing an integration system of different BRTs to operate in Karachi,” he disclosed.
He added that the issues of traffic jams and road blocks would come to an end with the operation of different RBT systems. Earlier, the chief minister unveiled a plaque to lay foundation stone of the project on which work started on Friday.