KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, presiding over a meeting on BRTs Yellow Line and Red Line on Thursday, decided to construct an alternative bridge alongside the Jam Sadiq bridge and acquire 32 acres of land at Cattle Colony for the installation of a biogas plant.

The meeting was attended by Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Personal Secretary to the CM Fayaz Jatoi, Finance Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, Local Government Secretary Najam Shah, Transport Secretary Haleem Shaikh and others.

The transport minister told the meeting that the overarching objective of the project was to improve mobility, accessibility, and safety along the BRT Yellow Line corridor alignment.

He said that the project was being launched with the Rs61bn assistance from World Bank, adding that it was a 21-kilometre main corridor between Dawood Chowrangi and Numaish Chowrangi and it would have two depots, one at Dawood Chowrangi and the others at Christian Colony.

Flyover to be built as an alternative to Jam Sadiq bridge

According to Mr Sharjeel, the BRT would have 28 stations, including six underpass stations, nine underpasses, two U-turns and two bridges. He said that the Yellow Line would have 268 diesel hybrid buses with regular ridership of 300,000 per day.

It was pointed out that the Yellow Line would have 80-100km off-corridor road facilities which needed to be improved.

The chief minister directed the planning and development and transport departments to finalise the alignment of Jam Sadiq Bridge alternative as a right of way of the Yellow Line so that work on the proposed bridge could be started.

He said that he had assured the World Bank team that the remaining formalities of the bridge and the overall project would be finalised at the earliest to launch the project.

The transport minister told the CM that consultancy contract for the preparation of a detailed design had been awarded. He said that the consultants had submitted their technical reports which were being reviewed.

The chief minister was told that Yellow Line needed 10 acres of land for the depot for which the CM directed the chief secretary to arrange the land in the Gulshan-i-Iqbal area.

Red Line

The chief minister was told that the work on BRT Red Line was in progress on a war footing.

Sharjeel Memon told the CM that the work on development of the infrastructure for the Red Line would be completed by the mid of 2024.

He raised the issue of the installation of a biogas plant for Red Line at Cattle Colony. The CM directed the local government department to arrange 32 acres of land at Cattle Colony so that the plant could be installed.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2022