KARACHI, Sept 24: Work on the 17km long Sohrab Goth –Tower corridor-I of the Karachi Mass Transit Project (KMTP), which was due to commence in August, could not be materialized due to the federal government’s decision to revive the National Mass Transit Authority (NMTA).
The NMTA was set up by Benazir-led PPP government in 1994 but before initiating the project, it was rolled back along with the dismissal of the PPP government.
Following reports that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has decided to upgrade the KMTP by reviving NMTA to include Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Quetta, Hyderabad, Multan, and Faisalabad in the project, it is feared that the KMTP may also fall prey to bureaucratic wrangling.
These apprehensions were expressed by analysts, who had been keeping an eye on the project since 1952, when for the first time it was suggested in the first master plan of Karachi to devise a mass transport system on the lines of those found in other major cities of the world.
The central leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Prof N.D. Khan, who was made chief of the first NMTA, said that mass transit mode of transport was the only solution to the ever increasing traffic problem in the metropolis and if the city government could make it, it would prove to be a major relief to the citizens.
It may be recalled that the need for such a mass transit programme for the city was realised in 1986 following the death of a female student, Bushra Zaidi that had resulted in riots. But after normalization of the situation, the real issue was put to the back burner.
During the mayorship of Dr Farooq Sattar, work was initiated and PC-1 was prepared and bids were also invited for the implementation of the project but due to the wrangling over the authority’s structure, particularly its head, the project in question made no headway.
About 39 Asian cities have been operating the mass transit system successfully by adopting light rail, mono-rail or metro system but Karachi, where this idea was floated in 1952, is till without a modern transport system in spite of the fact that its population is now about to cross 14 million souls. Long and exhausting traffic jams on its road have ultimately become order of the day.
The number of public transport vehicles is quite insufficient when compared to the current population of the city, which is increasing at a rapid pace, thus forcing commuters to travel on the rooftops of buses or by clinging to the doors and on their footboards and resulting in deaths of the masses almost every day.
According to the analysts, since 1986 scores of Pakistani delegations have visited different countries to study their mass transit systems and held negotiations with various financial institutions for arranging investments for a system suitable for Karachi. However, no progress seems to have been made so far, although a substantial amount of money and energy has already been wasted in the whole exercise.
The incumbent city government, after taking over the charge, had decided to come up with a modern transport system for the city along with the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway. In this connection, different offers, including one from a Chinese concern of a light rail system to be built on credit finance basis, are under study. The other proposals are based on BOT (build, operate and transfer) made by the Matrons for a mono-rail system, and IDC for a light rail system.
The planning commission had approved Rs5 billion for public-private mass transit system for Karachi under the PSDP. But recently Sindh Transport Minister Adil Siddiqui had disclosed that Japan had also offered investments up to $800 million to improve the transport system in this metropolis. This offer includes revival of the KCR and a modern urban transport system with the induction of 8,000 new CNG buses being part of the system.
However, after presentations given to the prime minister on the KMTP, it is yet to be clarified whether the federal government has decided to give a green signal to the city government to implement the KMTP on a priority basis or the entire process of inviting bids would have to be repeated.
