KARACHI: The highly ambitious plan to restart the 44km Karachi Circular Railway remains a pipe dream as the construction work on the KCR route has come to a halt causing a great deal of hardships to residents.

Informed sources told Dawn that the Frontier Works Organisation, which was awarded contract of three underpasses, a flyover and an elevated 6.4km-long structure along with the laying of new railway tracks, had stopped the work after the federal government decided to execute the project under CPEC.

Initiated in 1964, the old KCR route started from Drigh Road and ended in downtown Karachi. After suffering losses for years, its operation was ceased in 1999.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had decided to revive the KCR on a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) basis approved by Private Partnership Authority with heavy subsidies to the private partner by the government.

Construction work stops after federal govt decides to execute project under CPEC

However, the change in regime led to change in financial theme of the project as the incumbent Pakistan Democratic Alliance-led government abandoned the public-private partnership (PPP) mode and decided to seek Chinese investment for the project under CPEC.

The sources said the KCR project was bound to be delayed for an indefinite period as it would have to be revised after the Chinese authorities examined the PC-1 of the project.

They said that although the federal government had decided to execute the project under CPEC, no proper formal handing and taking over of the project was so far done.

The sources said that the FWO, which had already completed construction work on the two underpasses in Block 13-D of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal had stopped the remaining work following the shifting of the project from PPP mode to CPEC.

According to the PC-1 of the project, an underpass for road traffic would be constructed at Sehba Akhtar Road, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, and the existing culvert at 13-D area would be widened.

As per the SC order, the provincial government was specifically assigned to eliminate 22-level crossings from the KCR loop and construct underpasses, flyovers and the elevated structure at the cost of Rs6 billion, while the railways was given the rail-oriented works.

The sources said that both the provincial government and the railways had stopped work on the KCR, which remained off the tracks for well over 20 years, as they were waiting for finalisation of the project’s fate.

The construction of underpasses, flyovers and elevated structures was to be completed in one and half years as per the contract awarded to the FWO.

A Sindh government official, who did not wish to be named, said that the provincial government had released partial funds in advance to the FWO for the construction of two underpasses. However, he said, the remaining amount which was to be released this year, had not been released to the FWO after the decision of shifting the project from PPP mode to the CPEC.

Published in Dawn, january 8th, 2023