THE Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet allowed Pakistan Railways in January, 2013 to utilise $2.4bn concessionary loan at 0.2pc repayable in 40 years to revive the dysfunctional Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project.

It was the best infrastructure news since 1975-85 Karachi Master Plan. It would bring about major changes along its 50km. route, stopping at 27 stations and passing through industrial and commercial districts in the city and the suburbs.

The expected completion of the long-awaited project in 2016 would carry 400,000 passengers a day out of a total 700,000 commuters carried by overloaded minibuses, rickshaws, buses and other modes of transport. The informally financed transport sector in Karachi is anarchic and disorganised. The plight of people travelling on top of minibuses is pathetic.

In April 2014, the Railways minister, at a joint meeting with the Sindh chief minister, had decided to negotiate with people illegally occupying the land along KCR tracks for their resettlement. Although Karachi is the country’s largest city, its administration’s focus on the urban public transport sector is negligible.

Frustrated by the Sindh government’s red-tapism and incompetence, the Japanese withdrew their offer of $2.40bn.

In February 2015, the China Railway Construction Corporation signed an agreement to revive the defunct KCR. The government appears quite serious this time to allow the Chinese firm to utilise the meticulously prepared KCR project for its revival. Karachiites look forward to its completion.

Mahmood Ghulam Husain

Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2015

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