KARACHI
Agencies
The Sindh government and Pakistan Railways have constituted a Working Group to work out legal and formal aspects of the transfer of administrative control of Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) and `Right of Way’ of Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) to the Sindh government.
The decision was taken in a meeting between Sindh Chief Minister (CM), Syed Murad Ali Shah, and Federal Minister for Railways, Khawaja Saad Rafqiue, here at the CM House on Friday.
Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the prime minister had agreed to hand over administrative control of KUTC to the Sindh government. He assured Sindh of the federal government’s support.
The CM Sindh was assisted by Minister Transport Syed Nasir Shah, Additional Chief Secretary (Dev) Mohamad Waseem, Principal Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, Secretary Transport Taha Farooqui, and Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi. The Federal Minister was assisted by three team members.
The chief minister and the federal minister agreed to form a `Working group’ to evolve mechanisms to hand over the management of KUTC and to hand over Right of Way’ to Sindh. The group comprises ACS (Dev) Mohammad Waseem, Secretary Transport Taha Farooqui, Commissioner Karachi and from Ministry of Railway Chief Engineer Mr Bisharat, DS Karachi and Chief Marketing Manager. They would start holding meetings from next week.
CM Murad Ali Shah said that he wished to revive the KCR project. “I have held a number of meetings,” he said, “and have taken up this issue with the Chinese authorities to include it in CPEC. I am sure that my efforts will bear fruit”.
He said that the original length planned for the KCR project had been 43.12 km which would cost around $2609 million. He added that the scope of the project had expanded now, as it could run from City station to Steel Mill and then along the Super Highway DHA city towards tower in a circular route. “This would cover the entire city, including both industrial and residential areas,” he said.
The Chief Minister and the Federal Railways Minister agreed that a new feasibility study may also be conducted through international bidding so that future requirements of the KCR could be covered. However, the focus, he said, ought to be on starting the project. He said he would attend the Joint Council for Cooperation (JCC) session in China and propose that this project be made a part of CPEC by the end of this month.
It may be noted that KCR was commissioned in 1964 and remained an effective mass transportation system until 1984. Its operational efficiency depleted significantly over the following decades until it was finally put to sleep in December 1999.
The federal government sponsored a study in 2009 which led to proposals to provide soft term loans but nothing materialized due to some reason.
In 2008, KUTC was formed with 60 percent shares of Pakistan Railways, 25 percent shares of Sindh government, and 15 percent shares held by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Implementation of plans for KCR was part of KUTC’s purview.
The chief minister in order to start the KCR project made a plan to take over administrative control of KUTC.
Discussing his move, Murad said that he had written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif requesting him to hand over ownership of Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) and to support Sindh government plans.
“I am thankful to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he approved the letter as he received it,” he said and added that he appreciated the prime minister’s support for the Sindhi people’s cause.
Khawaja Saad assured the chief minister that he would share necessary expertise to Sindh government for the project.
In the meeting it was agreed that 260 acres of Pakistan Railways land would be given to Sindh government for the construction of KCR. It was also pointed out that there were 3600 encroachments along the KCR route.
The Chief Minister directed his team that he wants a clean plan for removal of encroachment so that he would start constructing compound wall around the proposed project. “This is overdue and the PPP government wants to give this gift to the people of Karachi,” he said.
Meanwhile, it was decided that the Sindh government would invite international firms to conduct another study of the project as its scope had increased considerably.
Khawaja Saad Rafique lauded the efforts and enthusiasm of the chief minister, and told him that “your leadership is so dynamic that you can do it,”, adding that his ministry would support him whatever he needs.
