KARACHI: Malaysian team’s suggestions on transport
KARACHI, Jan 10: The visiting Malaysian delegation, consisting of an official of the city government Kuala Lumpur and a representative of M.Trans - a firm which has developed mono-rail system in Kuala Lumpur -, has presented various suggestions for operating mass transit rail systems in Karachi.
The delegation, led by Dr Leong Siew Mun, Deputy Director Urban Transport Department of Kuala Lumpur, is on a visit of Karachi on the invitation of City Nazim Naimatullah Khan.
The delegates held a meeting with the director-general of the Mass Transit Programme, Malik Zaheerul Islam, on Friday and informed him about steps taken by Malaysia to control severe traffic congestions.
Dr Leong said that they were providing free consultancy services to the Karachi city government, so that it might benefit from their experience.
As compared to Karachi, they said, Kuala Lumpur is a small city of 243 square-km, having a day-time population of only 2.2 million, but there were more than 2.3 million vehicles — about 55 per cent cars and 35 per cent motorcycles — according to a recent survey.
Due to being an old city, there are less space for expansion in Kuala Lumpur, but Karachi is quite fortunate in this regard, he said, adding that despite this Kuala Lumpur has four different rail-based public transport system while the fifth is the elevated monorail which would become operational in April.
Talking to PPI, Dr Leong said that the city centre of Kuala Lumpur was less than 12km and they had been conducting studies to control traffic problems since 1975 and various studies stressed the need for developing a rail-based mass mobility service.
The Malaysian government, he added, took a major decision in 1990 to implement these studies and by the year 1995 four mass transit rail systems were functioning in the Malaysian capital.
Dr Leong said that Karachi is a fortunate city in many ways, as weather condition here is very conducive and it is also a bustling port city with development activities going on. He, however, said that municipal administration should implement certain strict laws to maintain more cleanliness in the city.
It may be mentioned that a sum of over Rs320 million has been spent on various studies on mass transit programme in Karachi since 1987.
The city government has called expression of interest for requalification of interests for the implementation of a rail- based mass transit system on a BOT basis.
The complete set of documents outlining the requirements are being sold for Rs6,000 and the last date for submission of the documents is Feb 17.
Malik Zaheer informed the delegation about six proposed corridors for a rail based transport system in the city which are: Sohrab Goth to Tower - 18km - and its extension up to New Sabzi Mandi in a later phase; Orangi to Cantt station - 12 km; New Karachi to Shershah - 17 km; Karachi City to Landhi along the main railway track - 23km; Nagan Chowrangi to Korangi via Rashid Minhas Road, and Baldia to Cantt Station via the RCD Highway.
