KARACHI, Sept 25: The Pakistan Railway is ready to give the city government the required right of way and technical assistance to operate the Karachi Circular Railway.

"Revival of the KCR involves an enormous amount of Rs9 billion and it would be made a part of the Karachi Mass Transit Programme," Minister for Railway Mian Shamim Haider told newsmen at the office of the PR divisional superintendent here on Saturday.

"In my personal view, the KCR service should not have been stopped as the city like Karachi needs it. We will give all technical support to the city government in reviving the KCR service," the minister said.

The DS Karachi, Junaid Qureshi, said that the PR had run 112 up and down trains a day. Due to improper town planning, the KCR service had not been expanded to cover Malir, Korangi and Sohrab Goth, which caused deterioration in the service and people switched over to buses, minibuses and coaches. "The PR is not responsible for the closure of the service... it's the provincial government's improper planning that led to the closure."

According to sources, members of a high-powered committee is expected to arriving in the city on Monday to discuss the project with officials of provincial and city governments, National Highways Authority, Pakistan Railway, and Karachi Mass Transit Cell.

At a later stage, the sources said, leading private entrepreneurs would also be invited to share their experience and put forward suggestions. Such figures may include representatives of certain US, UK and Chinese firms.

The Pakistan Railway and Consultancy Services Limited (PRACS), on behalf of the railway ministry, had invited 'expression of interest' for pre-qualification of companies for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the Karachi Circular Railway. An advertisement to this effect had appeared in print media on September 7. The companies were asked to submit their proposals by October 2 and a pre-bid qualification meeting would be held on October 15.

The sources said that the expression of interest was invited after it had been decided to revive the KCR as part of a comprehensive mass transit system for the metropolis. Under the initiative, the KCR infrastructure would be rehabilitated, upgraded and expanded for operation of multi-model transport services. The implementation was proposed to be offered on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis or any other mode which may prove feasible, they added.

They said that the committee members would explore various ways for the revival of the KCR during the meeting. The federal planning commission had constituted the committee after City Nazim Niamatullah Khan took an initiative to revive the KCR and showed his keen interest in the project.

He had held a series of meetings with PR officials which led to an agreement between the PR and CDGK in October 2003. Under the agreement the two sides have to undertake the project jointly and the KCR would be made an integral part of the Karachi Rail-based Mass Transit System.

A Chinese company has already prepared feasibility of the project. It had proposed funding of the same on suppliers/buyers credit on soft terms, said the sources.

The committee would also discuss the feasibility prepared by the Chinese company and hold further negotiations with the interested companies and donor agencies.

The KCR operation had been suspended on Dec 15, 1999 after the Pakistan Railway refused to operate the service due to recurring losses.