November 14, 2008	Friday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 13: The government has decided to get vacated the land belonging to the defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) and Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC) from its occupants — encroachers and tenants — so that the properties could be utilised in the People’s Housing Scheme.

The transport secretary has been asked to issue notices to all occupants of these lands across the province.

The issue came up for discussion at a meeting of provincial secretaries held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Fazalul Rehman on Thursday.

The Transport Secretary, Mumtaz Shah, briefed the participants of the meeting about the status of the SRTC and KTC depots and other facilities in the province.

The meeting was informed that that the 24-acre KTC Korangi depot and 10-acre Mehran depot were currently in the possession of the Bhitai Rangers, 10-acre Malir depot at present played host to the Pakistan Rangers and the eight-acre Gulistan-i-Jauhar depot was being used as Rangers Logistic Unit.

It was further informed that the Model depot and central workshop stretched over an area of seven acres was under the use of the Site town administration while the six-acre Orangi depot was in the occupation of the Sindh Police.

The meeting noted that the five-acre North Karachi depot had been leased out to the Swede Bus Company while the three-acre Landhi depot was possessed by the Al-Aziz transport company. The possession of the two-acre Surjani depot was being maintained by the Karachi Green Bus Co.

The meeting was told that the Paposh Nagar bus terminal measuring 2,281 yards, along with 38 shops built on the plot, was leased out by the KTC to tenants and the KTC headquarters, spread over an area of 12,751 square feet in the vicinity of the Civic Centre was currently in the physical possession of the excise and taxation department.

The SRTC depots and terminals in Hyderabad, Thatta, Mirpurkhas, Karachi, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Larkana, Dadu, Jacobabad, Badin, Sanghar, Khairpur and Nawabshah were under the occupation of various institutions, individuals, agencies or tenants. The total area of these properties was approximately 35 acres. However, the meeting noted, 50 acres of SRTC lands was unoccupied at the moment.

The chief secretary called for the reactivation of the provincial and regional transport authorities in order to ensure a better transport system for citizens. He also underlined the need for activating the Karachi public transport society, pointing out that the Karachi Circular Railway was being revived under the Karachi Urban Transport Authority.

During the briefing, the transport secretary said that over the past five months (April-August 2008), the district regional authorities of Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas had issued 7,552 new route permits and renewed 5,998 old route permits.

He informed the meeting that there was a shortfall of 4,500 large-sized public transport buses in Karachi as against the minimum requirement of commuters.

He stated that the recognised international standards recommended one large-sized bus for every 1,500 commuters while the city’s public transport fleet comprised just 5,500 buses as against its requirement of 10,000 such vehicles.

This shortfall, he said, was one of the major factors contributing to the inconvenience being experienced by the city population.