KARACHI: A senior member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said on Sunday that Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the much-awaited Green Line Bus Rapid Transit service on Dec 10.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiative Asad Umar gave the news to the people, particularly Karachiites, on social media.

“The PM @ImranKhanPTI will inshallah inaugurate Karachi’s first modern transport system, greenline BRT, on the 10th of December,” he tweeted.

Last month, Mr Umar had said that the commercial launch of Green Line would begin from Dec 25 and before that the prime minister would come to Karachi to inaugurate the first BRT project in the metropolis.

The Green Line project, which was launched during the era of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has suffered several hiccups over the years since its groundbreaking. Envisaged and executed in February 2016, the project was originally estimated to get completed within a year with an estimated cost of Rs16.85bn funded by the federal government.

However, it took more than five years and Rs35bn to finish and years of frustration, stress and painful experiences of hundreds of thousands of Karachiites who had to trudge through main Shershah Suri Road every day during painfully slow construction of the project.

Approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec), the Green Line project was executed by the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (SIDCL). Starting from KESC Powerhouse Chowrangi in Surjani Town, the bus service is to terminate at Merewether Tower after passing through Nagan Chowrangi, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad and Gurumandir, with 21 stations along its route to cater to 300,000 passengers on a daily basis.

With over 23-kilometre dedicated tracks, including an 11km elevated section, the bus service project offers special services for the disabled.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2021