KARACHI: The Sindh government and the Pakistan Railways have formed a working group to fulfil all legal requirements to hand over the administrative control of the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) and the `right of way’ (use railway tracks) of the Karachi Circular Railway to Sindh and decided to conduct a new feasibility through international bidding to cover its future requirement with the focus on starting the project.

This decision was taken in a meeting held between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique on Friday at CM House.

The chief minister was assisted by Transport Minister Syed Nasir Shah, additional chief secretary (ACS) (development) Mohammed Waseem, principal secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, secretary transport Taha Farooqui and finance secretary Hassan Naqvi. The federal minister was assisted by his three team members.

The ‘working group’, which comprises the ACS (dev), the transport secretary, the Karachi commissioner and from the ministry of railways chief engineer Bisharat, Karachi DS and chief marketing manager, would start holding meetings from next week.

The federal minister assured the chief minister that he would provide necessary expertise to the Sindh government for the project.

Earlier during the discussion, the chief minister said he had revived Karachi Circular Railway project with heart and soul. “I have held a number of meetings and took this issue with Chinese authorities to include it in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and would be visiting China by the end of this month to attend Joint Council for Cooperation to take up the project for the CPEC. I am sure my efforts would bear fruit,” he said.

Recalling that the length of the original KCR project starting from Drigh Road and ending at Alladin Park in circular was 43.12 km but after enhancing its present scope it could be started from the city station to the Steel Mills and then along the Superhighway DHA city toward Tower in circular.

“This would cover the entire city, including industrial and residential areas,” he said.

The chief minister expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for supporting the cause of people of Sindh by approving his letter requesting him to hand over the ownership of the KUTC to implement KCR, support Sindh government to take up the KCR project in CPEC and give sovereign guarantee for it.

The federal railways minister said that the prime minister had agreed to hand over the administrative control of the KUTC and he had assured the Sindh government of his full support.

In the meeting it was agreed that the Pakistan railways land measuring 260 acres would be given to the Sindh government for construction of KCR.

It was also added that there were 3,600 encroachers along the KCR route, therefore the chief minister directed his team to work out a plan to remove the encroachments.

The chief minister directed his team that he wanted a clean plan for removal of encroachment so that he could start constructing compound wall around the proposed project.

“This is overdue and the PPP government wants to give this gift to the people of Karachi,” he said.

The federal railways minister lauding the efforts and enthusiasm of the chief minister said: “Your leadership is so dynamic that you can do it,” he said and added that his ministry would support him whatever he needed.

It may be noted that the KCR was commissioned in 1964 and remained an effective mass transportation system till 1984.

Its operation efficiency was adversely affected due to level crossings, increased running time and lack of investment resulting in deterioration of its service and subsequently closure in December 1999.

Latter, on the behest of the federal government, the Japan International Cooperation Agency carried out a study in 2008 and filed its report in 2009.

JICA proposed to provide soft-term loan but that never materialised due to one or the other reason.

Bilawal backs KCR incorporation into KCR

Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has endorsed the demand of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for including the Karachi Circular Railway project in the CPEC saying that the city is catering to the people from all over Pakistan and needs smooth public transport facilities.

The PPP chief endorsed the demand when Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah called on him at Bilawal House on Friday to congratulate him on successful holding of week-long celebrations of 49th Foundation Day of the party in Lahore.

He also informed the chairman about putting this demand before the federal government for including the long-pending Karachi Circular Railway in the CPEC to meet the over-growing public transport needs of the city.

The chief minister also briefed him about the ongoing development schemes and overall law and order situation in the province, especially in its capital.

Published in Dawn December 10th, 2016