RIYADH, June 26: A group of overseas Pakistanis — Overseas Investors Group (OIG) — have pledged an investment of SR750 million ($200 million) in various projects in Karachi. The OIG, a group of Pakistanis living in Saudi Arabia, has recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karachi local government in this regard.

The projects range from building a metro railway system in Karachi to a new road transport project. Many other projects to be implemented within the framework of the MoU include setting up of waste water treatment facilities and recycling projects. These projects are anticipated to generate over 40,000 employments.

Referring to the projects, OIG convener Rana Abdul Rauf told a gathering in Riyadh, held to felicitate prominent Pakistanis for their outstanding contributions in different fields, that the Karachi local government had also approached investors in different countries for these projects. The OIG is seeking help from the Islamic Development Bank, Al-Awad Est; Bin Laden Group and the Arab Banking Corporation for the execution of these projects in Karachi.

OIG is already in discussion with a Swiss company to acquire luxury buses to be operated in Karachi. The group is expected to invest nine million Saudi riyals shortly in the project to acquire and operate 50 new Japanese Hino-Pak luxury buses in Karachi. The fleet will later be expanded in phases to cover 200 buses.

“We are also talking to Daewoo of South Korea, which has expressed its desire to press into service 100 buses,” the OIG convener was quoted in the press here as saying. There was also a plan to set up workshops and other logistic facilities to ensure smooth running of the project and simultaneously offer better transportation facilities to the city dwellers.

As per the MoU, the Karachi local government has agreed to provide land as their equity in the projects, to be operated on ‘build, operate and transfer (BOT) or build, operate and own (BOO)’ basis.

The metro rail project will alone attract investment worth millions of dollars. A study is currently underway to find out how feasible it is to operate overhead magnetic railway system in Karachi on the model of China and Hong Kong.