KARACHI, Dec 1: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad on Monday gave a go-ahead to the Karachi Circular Railway plan, and a comprehensive strategy for the revival of KCR for running it on modern lines is likely to be finalized shortly.

The plan will now be presented before the federal cabinet for its formal approval after which the work will begin.

Presiding over a high-level meeting at the Governor’s House, Ishratul Ibad resented delays in the project.

A policy board and a steering committee were also constituted in the meeting.

The policy board will be headed by the governor, while the chief minister will be its co-chairman. The railways minister, the senior provincial finance minister, the provincial transport minister, a nominee of the railway ministry and the City Nazim will be the members of the board.

The steering committee, which was earlier headed by the chief secretary, was reconstituted, and the transport minister was inducted as its chairman, while the Sindh minister for planning and development, the chief secretary and the city Nazim will be its members.

The board will meet every quarterly while the steering committee will hold its meetings every month.

The project will be completed in three stages. In the first two stages, the existing KCR infrastructure will be rehabilitated and upgraded. During this period, selection of private operators and licensing process will also be completed.

The third stage will be of four years and onward during which mass transit routes of integration and service expansion to other areas will be completed.

GM Railways Maj-Gen Hamid Hasan Butt briefed the meeting about the details of the project.

The meeting was attended by railway minister Ghous Bux Mahar, senior provincial finance minister Syed Sardar Ahmed, transport minister Adil Siddiqi, chief secretary Dr Muttawakil Kazi, principal secretary, Brig (Retd) Akhtar Zamin, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan, DCO Karachi Mir Hussain Ali and other officials.

Under the programme, the existing single tracks will be dualised and expanded up to Orangi, North Karachi, Airport and the populations beyond Malir.

As per the plan, all transport system, including mass transit corridors will become part of an integrated railway-based multi-model transport system.

The meeting also approved the establishment of Karachi Metropolitan Transport Authority.

Under the plan, the number of railway stations on KCR will be increased from existing 14 to 80 and air-conditioned trains will be operated on electric tracks with modern signalling and telecom systems.

During rush hours, a train will be available after every 10 minutes and after every 15 minute during normal hours. The ticketing system will be totally computerized and will be valid for both rail and bus services.

The plan envisages the elimination of existing 23 level crossings which would be replaced with overhead or underground passes.—APP