KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday said that he has worked hard to make the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) a reality and the work on the project would start by December.
The chief minister said the work on the project would start as soon as possible so the passengers could be provided with most effective, efficient and successful mode of transport.
He expressed these views during a meeting with a delegation of Chinese Railway Construction Corporation led by its Vice President Yang Jinjun.
Transport Minister Nasir Shah, Principal Secretary to CM Sohail Rajput, Energy Secretary Agha Wasif and Transport Secretary Taha Farooqui also attended the meeting.
The Sindh CM was told that the Chinese company has started working on KCR design.
Nasir Shah told the meeting that the removal of encroachment along the alignment of KCR has been started. Most of the portion has been cleared where fencing work could be started, he added.
The Sindh CM said that the project has been approved under the CPEC and now the federal government would issue a formal approval in its ECNEC meeting.
In August, a meeting of Joint group (Pakistan-China) on CPEC is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in which the project would be cleared for funding.
Murad Ali Shah said that the Chinese bank is in touch with the Sindh Transport Department to approve funds for the KCR.
The chief minister said that he was committed to initiating work on the KCR by December 2017 and he was sure “we would make it”.
It may be noted that once the project is cleared in a joint group meeting, international tenders for the construction of the project would be invited to award the contract.
