KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that issues pertaining to Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) Red Line project will be resolved on a top priority basis so that work on its corridor could be completed on time.

He was speaking to a technical delegation of the Asian Development Bank here on Monday. Headed by Gia Heeyong, the delegation comprised the bank’s senior urban transport specialist Lloyd Wright, director urban transport David Margonztern and senior project officer Umar Ali Shah.

Sindh Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon, Planning and Development chairman Hassan Naqvi, Finance Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro and Transport Secretary Haleem Shaikh also attended the meeting.

The BRT Red Line project was launched last month with the assistance of ADB. Its track is stretched over 26 kilometres between Model Colony in Malir and Merewether Tower covering University Road, M.A. Jinnah Road and its extension road and Numaish Chowrangi.

Main issues discussed with CM, transport minister

The delegation told the chief minister that there were some issues in the project such as availability of a couple of bus depot and transfer of land for the installation of a biogas plant at Cattle Colony.

The CM said that 32 acres of land had already been earmarked for the plant but its title had to be changed for which he had issued necessary directives.

Talking about the proposed depot, Mr Shah said that the sites would be got vacated with the start of the work on available depots.

He urged the ADB delegation to assist and support integration of BRT Red Line with other BRTs such as Green Line, Orange Line and Yellow Line. The delegation agreed to extend support to the provincial government in this regard.

Earlier, Sindh Minister for Transport, Sharjeel Inam Memon, who also holds the portfolios of Information and Mass Transit, held a meeting with the ADB and Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) delegation in his office to discuss bottlenecks in the Red Line project.

He assured the delegation of the provincial government’s full support and cooperation in completing the Red Line infrastructure within 24 months.

On his suggestion, the delegation agreed to hold weekly Zoom meetings on the project to review progress of development work. The minister assured the delegation that there would be no delays on the part of the provincial government in completing the project. “My entire team and contractors will work on the project day and night,” he said, adding that it was a mission of the Sindh government to resolve the city’s transport issues.

He told the delegation that he had given one-month time to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority and the executing authority of the Abdul Sattar Edhi BRT (Orange Line) project to complete it by May 30.

The minister noted that the Red Line was a biogas project which the provincial government wanted to be successful so that it could be replicated in Hyderabad and other major cities of the province.

He said the process of land transfer for BRT depots would be expedited and that he would personally look into the transfer of 32 acres of land for a biogas plant for the project.

Mr Memon said the process of procuring buses for the project should also be expedited so that they were available as soon as the infrastructure was completed.

Lloyed Wright informed the minister that the Red Line project was environment-friendly and totally different from other BRTs, including Green Line, Yellow Line and Orange Line.

Published in Dawn,May 10th, 2022