04 January 2005	Tuesday	22 Ziqa'ad 1425

KARACHI, Jan 3: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Monday reviewed the status of the multi-million dollars Karachi Mass Transit Project at a high-level meeting held at the Governor's House here on Monday.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Senior (Finance) Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, Planning Minister Shoaib Ahmed Bukhari, Transport Minister Adil Siddiqi, Adviser to the CM on Local Government Waseem Akhtar, MNA Dr Farooq Sattar, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Dr Akram Shaikh and DG Mass Transit Malik Zahirul Islam.

The meeting was informed that an MoU had already been signed by the city government with a foreign company for the construction of the Corridor-I of the Mass Transit programme on BOT basis.

The prime minister said that possibilities be explored for extending the scheme to include the construction of corridors II to VI for a cost-effective mode of mass transit, that should be affordable for commuters, also on BOT basis.

He pointed out that since the project involved a huge investment to be made partly by the executing firm, it could not take off without the federal assistance. Mr Aziz told the meeting that the government keenly desired provision of a fast mode of transport to the people of Karachi.

Besides the mass transit scheme, he said, the government had already decided to revive the Karachi Circular Railway and the initial preparations for its immediate revival were being made by the Railways in collaboration with the provincial government. "Both the federal and Sindh governments are in total agreement over the revival of this project,'' he said.

It may be mentioned here that initially, the Karachi Mass Transit Project was initiated by the city government which has also signed an MoU without taking the federal and provincial governments into confidence.

No company can undertake the project without a sovereign guarantee to be provided by the federal government. Since the KMTP is a public welfare project, the federal and provincial governments came out with help and assistance to move the project ahead. -APP