THIS is apropos of Raees Ahmad Khan’s letter ‘Karachi Circular Railways’ (June 23). The writer, without considering the technical aspects of the matter, draws the conclusion that the revival of the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) would result in “burying our nation in yet another debt”.

The writer prefers road transport over KCR. Technically, Karachi is an organic city (it began as a small town and grew over time) and its ground realities differ from those of planned cities. The structure and layout of the city is in place and road networks have to be planned with what is available. This implies that we have a serious constraint here as far as the expansion and upgrading of the road network is concerned for controlling the ever-increasing traffic congestion.

Thus, it is of pivotal importance to take steps to control the addition of new vehicles on Karachi’s roads, which can be done by introducing other modes of transport. Issues like corruption and land-grabbing as pointed out by the writer are the ones that pertain to administration. All these can be resolved if honest and dedicated people are given the responsibility to operate and run the above-mentioned train service.

Therefore, in a city where buses present the sight of honeycombs and where road transport is deteriorating day by day, it is worth spending money on the revival of KCR. The amount spent can be recovered if the authorities concerned don’t fall prey to the manipulative schemes of Karachi’s transport mafia.

MIRZA IBRAHIM BAIG Karachi