Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed his surprise over inordinate delay in clearance of the Karachi Mass Transit Authority (KMTA) draft bill by the standing committee of the provincial assembly and directed to present and pass the bill in the next assembly session.
The chief minister said this while presiding over a meeting on Transport Department at Chief Minister House on Wednesday.
An official of the Chief Minister House said the meeting was attended by Minister Transport Nasir Shah, Secretary Transport Taha Farooqi, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi and other officers concerned. Minister Transport Syed Nasir Shah while briefing the chief minister said that developing an efficient transport network was inevitable in the KMTA.
The draft bill of the authority was presented in the assembly in September 2014 which referred it to the standing committee for clearance.
The committee put the draft bill on the back burner till May 2016, it was further pointed out. The chief minister directed the transport minister to table the bill in the next assembly session.
“Whatever the legal formalities are concerned, you must fulfill them and where my approval is required it would be done on top priority basis,” he assured.
The chief minister directed the transport department to establish the Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) in the department till approval of the authority bill and start recruitment process for the required positions.
“You need efficient, experienced and dedicated professionals to start mass transit system in the city,” he said. Briefing on the BRT corridors, the secretary said that the Green Line project was 22 kilometer long starting from Surjani to Jamia Cloth Market via North Nazimabad, Nazimanad and MA Jinnah Road. The work on this project had already started, he added.
The Orange Line project has been started by the Sindh government. It is 3.9 kilometers long starting from Orangi Town to Matric Board office. Work on this project has also been started.
The Yellow Line project is 22.4 kilometer long starting from Dawood Chorangi to Numaish, Lucky Star via Korangi Road. Minister Transport Nasir Shah said it was being started on public private partnership (PPP) mode. A Chinese company is going to start it and for that purpose an agreement would be signed very soon, he added.
Secretary Taha Farooqi said that the Red Line is also a 22 kilometer long BRT starting from Malir Cantt to Regal Chowk via University Road. The project would be started with the assistance of Asian Development Bank, he said, adding that the process of completing necessary formalities was going on.
The chief minister directed the transport minister to personally monitor the process and get it done at the earliest. Talking about the Blue Line, the scretary said it was a 22.4 km long project staring from New Sabzi Mandi to Tower via MA Jinnah Road.
The chief minister directed the secretary transport to move a summary for seed money to establish KMTA office so that after approval of the authority bill, the work could be started on this project.
