KARACHI, Dec 5: The Sindh government has finally agreed to hand over the defunct Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC) depots to the CDGK
“The matter has been resolved at last after a series of meeting between officials of the Sindh government and the CDGK in the past many days,” said an official of the transport and communication department of the CDGK.
Possession of four defunct KTC depots was a matter of dispute between the Sindh government and the CDGK for the past two and half years, which impeded induction of new buses in the city.
These depots situated in Site, Landhi, Surjani and North Nazimabad have been inoperative since the closure of the KTC about six years ago. They were later planned to be handed over to the city government in 2001, when it launched its UTS scheme to bring new large-size buses in the city.
The Sindh transport department refused to hand over the depots to the city government arguing that they could not be handed over unless liabilities on them were cleared. The city government claimed its right over the KTC depots under the Sindh cabinet decision 2001 to hand over the depots to the city government for carrying out the operation of UTS.
This dispute prevented large-size bus operators from bringing new buses in the city due to non-availability of parking facilities, a key requirement for parking a fleet of more than 50 buses.
The CDGK official said that the meetings succeeded only because of the personal interest of Sindh finance minister Syed Sardar Ahmed and Sindh transport minister Muhammad Adil Siddiqui. He said a letter had also been received from the Sindh government about the handing over of the depots in a few days.
“In the wake of the resolution of the dispute a bus company has made preparations to operate large buses on a route from Malir to Tower and the service may be launched from next week,” he said and added that Rs1500 per month would be charged as service charges from each bus operating from the depots and the amount generated would be divided between the Sindh government and the CDGK.
“Eighty per cent of the revenue will go to the Sindh government and the rest will be pocketed by the CDGK under the revenue distribution formula agreed between the Sindh transport department and the CDGK in 2001.
“More bus operators will now come forward to bring new buses to replace the obsolete mode of transport as their key demand has been met and the people of the city will be seeing a lot of new buses in the coming weeks,” the official said.—PPI
