KARACHI, Sept 6: The city government has expedited its work on the implementation of the rail-based mass transit system and taken various measures over the last few days to ensure a smooth process in this regard.

The new measures include finalization of the selection of a technical and financial expert; holding of a seminar on Sept 27 to create awareness on the system; and submitting an MoU with the provincial law department for the implementation of the system on ‘built, operate and transfer (BOT)’ basis.

The decision on finalizing the selection of the expert was taken on Saturday during a meeting of the Evaluation Committee which was constituted by City Nazim Naimatullah Khan on the recommendation of a sub-committee.

An official of the Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC) informed that the National Engineering Services (pvt) Ltd. (NESPAK) and the RAK Association would be providing technical and financial advisory services.

The above-mentioned consultants would undertake six different tasks — ding a review of the Term of References (TOR), pre-bids meeting with pre-qualified firms, evaluation of the proposals to be received from the pre-qualified firms, negotiations with the firms and finalization of an agreement with the successful bidders.

The consultants will also put forward recommendation on a roadmap for the implementation of project in case of a adverse situation i.e. if no proposal from the bidders is found suitable.

A city government official said that the pre-bids meeting was expected to be held close to the date of the scheduled seminar (Sept 27) to be organized jointly by the KMTC and Chartered Institute of Logistic Transport.

The seminar would be attended by 200 people — government officials, Town Nazims, senior citizen, technical experts, newsmen and representatives from various organizations dealing in transport affairs.

There are a total of seven pre-qualified firms and the six proposed corridors of the rail-based mass transit system is stretched over 90 kilometres. They are:

1) Sohrab Goth to Tower (18 kms) and its extension up to New Sabzi Mandi in later phase.

2) Orangi to Cantonment Station (12 kms).

3) New Karachi to Shershah (17 kms).

4) Karachi City to Landhi along the main rail track (23 kms).

5) Nagan Chowrangi to Korangi via Rashid Minhas Road.

6) Baldia to Cantonment Station via RCD Highway.

The proposals on the first corridor of the proposed network are in final stage and an MoU for the second corridor has already been submitted with the law department for a review.—PPI