AS the Sindh government has announced its participation in operating a bus service in association with Daewoo of South Korea, I must strike a note of caution that all such attempts in the past have failed.

For this venture to succeed, I should emphasise that the operation and maintenance of the fleet must be left entirely to Daewoo and its local partner if it has someone in mind.

The scheme must take care of the fundamental problem that the commuters of Karachi are not prepared to pay an economic fare even for good service.

The question of subsidy to the investor therefore should be decided at the very outset.

Secondly, since the commuters will not be able to pay the economic fare, the government must be prepared to subsidise the operation. It is necessary to keep in mind that Daewoo is not a charitable organisation.

There are other aspects of the project needing consideration but levels of fare and subsidy should be settled here and now.

Kunwar Idris
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019