KARACHI, Oct 29: It has been decided at a meeting at the City Government head office that routes would be granted to only those transport operators who would bring 25 new buses under Urban Transport Scheme (UTS) and 10 under RTA in Karachi.

The decision was taken by the committee, headed by the DCO, Karachi, Shafiqur Rehman Paracha, entrusted with finalizing the matters of UTS.

The meeting approved pre-qualification of all the 14 transporters who had submitted their proposals for the UTS.

The meeting decided that routes and depots will be allotted on first come, first served basis to any aspirant meeting the 25-buses criterion for the UTS. It fixed Nov 4 as the date for the final presentation to the Nazim of Karachi, Naimatullah Khan.

It may be mentioned here that the major incentive under the UTS is mark-up subsidy which will be disbursed directly to the transport operators (6 per cent for non-AC and 9 per cent for AC buses) with Sindh government being the major contributor to the subsidy. The TCD has set the target of 500 buses for the UTS.

The meeting observed that the provincial government is yet to transfer the amount of Rs146.26 million to the City government. The amount pertains to the subsidy on mark-up of loans to be given to the UTS bus operators and the City government ‘s share to the tune of Rs61.58 million.

Besides, the provincial transport department has not transferred four depots — Korangi bus depot, Landhi depot, Mehran depot (Model Colony, Malir) and the Surjani bus terminus.

—PPI