KARACHI: Govt urged to allocate funds for KCR revival
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, June 5: Speakers at a seminar on the “Revival of the Karachi Circular Railway” on Wednesday urged the federal government to allocate appropriate funds to launch the project.
They were of the view that the foreign investment in the project would escalate the actual cost, which would ultimately raise the fare. They said if the project was funded by the government, the private sector would be attracted and the rolling stocks would be built locally, reducing the cost and creating job opportunities.
Addressing the seminar organized by the Urban Resource Centre at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) House, chairman URC Arif Hasan said the revival of the KCR was in the interest of the people as the loop of the KCR covered commercial hubs and those areas where the working class lived and it was the better transport mode for them.
He said that from time to time different nongovernmental organizations had been mounting pressure on the government to execute the project and revive the KCR operation. He lauded the efforts of the Engineering Consultants International Limited (ECIL) for preparing a comprehensive and practicable feasibility for the revival of KCR operation.
Chairman of ECIL, Zaheer Mirza, gave a detailed presentation to the participants about the revival of the KCR operation. He asked the federal government to initiate the project and said that if delayed the traffic problem would increase manifold in the years to come.
Speaking of the salient features of the feasibility report, he said the stage-I for the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway had been estimated at a cost of Rs12 billion to be completed in three and a half years from the day of approval and availability of funds.
He said in stage-1, the track improvement of 30 km, new track from Malir Halt to Karachi Cantt of 18 km, improvement of existing track from Malir Halt to Malir Cantt of 6 km, laying of 2nd track of 30 km, improvement and extension of signalling and telecommunication, two new stations with rail/road junctions, security fencing (30,000 meters), new road-rail junction stations and improvement of existing stations, under/over passes at 12 level crossing, widening of five bridges and addition of small bridges, and integration with bus routes and route rationalization had been estimated at a cost of Rs3.2 billion.
“The rolling stocks have been estimated at a cost of Rs7.4 billion, which would include 42 train sets (engine plus four bogies), workshop and yards, and buses for shuttle service”.
“Besides, the engineering service of implementation and design and contingencies have been estimated at a cost of Rs.1.6 billion”.
“The stage-II is likely to be completed in three years with an estimated cost of Rs8.33 billion. In this stage, the laying of additional double track from Malir Halt to Landhi; additional double track between the Karachi City and Cantt.; new spur between Drigh Road to Nazimabad via Nagan Chowrangi; new spur between Nazimabad & Orangi; new spur between Baloch Colony to Korangi; new spur between Drigh Road to Airport; construction of 16 new stations; two major bridges at the Malir river; and signalling & telecommunication, had been estimated at a cost of Rs4.19 billion”.
“The rolling stocks including extension of workshop & depots, shuttle buses and maintenance workshops have been estimated at a cost of Rs3.06 billion. Besides Rs1.08 billion were estimated for administration of engineering services and contingencies.”
Zahir Mirza urged the government that the hurdles on way of the revival of the KCR should be removed and the government should take decisions to settle acquisition of right-of-way from Pakistan Railways.
He said that the right-of-way owned by the City Government and establishment of an apex organization to monitor and oversee overall Urban Mass Transportation in Karachi including the KCR, commitment for sustainable phased project development, quantum jump in quality of service, indigenous manufacturing of Board Gauge Locomotives and AC coaches, making the KCR service an affordable, minimum commuting time and connectivity to other transport modes were the pre-requisites for the success of the KCR project.
Besides, integration of the KCR and shuttle bus service, commercial activity at stations would attract riders and create a regular source of income, he added.
About the failure of the KCR operations, he expressed his opinion that the lack of coordination between owner, operator and planning agencies, lack of resource planning and commitment, irregular and poor quality of service, failure on revenue control, lack of interest of the Pakistan Railways in operating KCR service, and the non-ownership of city agencies were among the causes of failure of the KCR service.
He referred to a study which showed that 1,100 buses cross M.A. Jinnah Road at peak hours a day and it would double in 10 years and triple in 15 years. The travel time will also increase from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours per trip.
At present, he said, 8,747 public buses were operational in the city and 11,254 buses were still required. In view of the growing population, the requirement of buses would also surge to 17,000 buses, he added.
Referring to the feasibility, Zaheer Mirza observed that the urban transport issue was a serious problem all over the world.
“The Urban Rail Transport is needed by all the mega cities including Karachi. The only option is to do it now as each year the cost will escalate and the right-of-way encroached. Nowhere in the world, it generates profits but it is subsidized in one way or the other, such as subsidy on operations; government investment in infrastructure and system development; attracting private sector by giving effective boost to their operational profits; incentives on income tax and duty free equipment; free lease of land for commercial development to generate resources for system operation and maintenance.”
Besides, he said, the ECIL had been preparing another feasibility for constructing tramways for electric trams for the areas not included in the loop of KCR. He disclosed that the 50 per cent work in that regard had been completed and the government had asked ECIL to submit its feasibility. If approved, he said, the expenditure on the preparation of the feasibility would be reimbursed.
