KARACHI, March 12: Former city nazim Niamatullah Khan has said that due to the lack of attention on the part of the city government, some 40 per cent of UTS buses have been shifted from Karachi to other locations. He also deplored that the matter of the package of 500 UTS buses was still lying pending.

In a statement, he said that his administration had persuaded the federal government to waive off import duty and sales taxes on the import of these UTS buses as a special case. But the present administration appeared least interested in resolve the city’s transport problems. “Resultantly, the citizens have to bear the brunt,” he lamented.

Niamatullah Khan further said that besides the UTS bus package, he had approved another package of 500 CNG buses. “In the present circumstances, it seems that these buses might never be brought to the city roads.”

He said that being a conscious citizen, he was very much worried about the great hardship being faced by Karachiites viz-a-viz the public transport problem.

He recalled that seven inter-city bus terminals were to be constructed in the first phase under the Annual Development Programme. The tender for two such terminals in Surjani Town had been approved and contractors had initiated work on these projects. Regretfully, he added, the work had now been stopped.

Each of the proposed terminals had a capacity of accommodating 200 buses for parking purpose, and the completion of these terminals would have greatly helped in containing traffic jams, besides getting the city rid of illegal bus terminals.

Mr Khan said that the city nazim should give preference to the interests of citizens and ensure early completion of the inter-city bus terminals.—PPI