KARARACHI: Work on Corridor-I to begin shortly: Karachi Mass Transit Project
By Azizullah Sharif
KARARACHI, May 29: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal announced on Monday that work on much-publicised and long-awaited Corridor-I of Karachi Mass Transit System, from Mereweather Tower to Sohrab Goth, will begin either in June or July.
Besides, the ground-breaking ceremony of an elevated expressway, to be built on BOT basis by a Malaysian firm (from Jinnah bridge to Quaidabad) as an alternative route to Sharea Faisal will take place on Aug 8 and it will completed in two-and-a-half years, he added.
Speaking at a news conference, he unveiled the details of his recent week-long visit to China where he had detailed discussions with the Shanghai’s mayor and representatives of various multi-national companies who played a vital role in the progress of Shanghai.
Terming his talks with the Shanghai mayor as ``successful and fruitful’’, the Nazim said since Shanghai had made progress by leaps and bounds, the mayor was asked to assist the city government Karachi in various sectors, such as city’s infrastructure, solid-waste management system, mass transit system and promotion of investment in Karachi.
He said the Shanghai mayor was also requested to send a delegation of experts to Karachi so that the CDGK could also benefit from their experiences in different sectors, especially those relating to mass transit corridor, circular railway, elevated expressways on major and busy roads, as well as city’s master plan.
Expressing his gratitude to the Shanghai’s mayor for ensuring all possible help to the CDGK in various sectors, he said the delegation of Chinese experts would soon be visiting the city to inspect mega projects in Karachi.Recalling that Karachi and Shanghai were declared `twin-cities’ after the signing of an agreement in 1984, Mr Kamal deplored that although 22 years had elapsed, no progress had, so far, been made.
He said that since Shanghai is not only an important city of the world, but its economy also ranks at No one among the cities of the world, the CDGK has now decided to take benefit from the twin-cities agreement so that contacts between the two cities of both the friendly countries are revived and Karachi is benefited from the rich experience of Shanghai, especially in developing its infrastructure.
Referring to his meetings with the representatives of various multi-national companies of Shanghai, he said he was pleased to note that dozens of the multi-national firms were willing to invest in the city.
He was optimistic that with the arrival of Shanghai’s investors in Karachi not only the city’s infrastructure would be developed, but job opportunities would also be created on a large scale for youths, especially the educated ones.
He said keeping in view the interest being shown by foreign investors in the city, the CDGK has decided to set up its foreign investment secretariat which will start functioning within a week.
He said the task of the CDGK’s foreign investment secretariat would be to facilitate and attract foreign investors through the country’s foreign embassies. The foreigners would also be properly guided concerning their investment in the city’s mega projects.
At the outset, the Nazim said at present as many as 551 development projects are being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs30 billion and work on all these projects was progressing satisfactorily and strictly in accordance with their scheduled date of completion.
