• Workers start breaking ground between Numaish and Municipal Park to extend track
• Traffic Signal Priority system to be used at three intersections on M.A. Jinnah Road

KARACHI: More than nine years after the groundbreaking of its first phase that completed three years ago, the long-awaited expansion of the second phase of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Green Line project has finally begun by the federal government.

The project is estimated to be completed within a year at a cost of five to six billion rupees, officials and sources told Dawn.

The first phase of the Green Line project connects Surjani Town to Numaish. The second phase will connect Numaish to Municipal Park on the main M.A. Jinnah Road.

Construction finally began on the stalled project on M.A. Jinnah Road, with workers breaking ground on the section between the Numaish intersection and Municipal Park to extend the BRT track.

“The contract has been awarded by the federal government recently and the development work has just begun a few days ago,” confirmed an official.

“The extension phase of the Green Line consists of two parts. One is from Numaish to Municipal Park on main M.A. Jinnah Road which is 1.8-kilometre long. The federal government has started building it. And the other is from Municipal Park to Merewether Clock Tower which will be executed by the Sindh government. After completion of the first extension, the Sindh government will take up the final task.”

He said that the newly initiated portion from Numaish to Municipal Park would run at grade and include three stations with Traffic Signal Priority (TSP) system planned exclusively for the BRT service.

The TSP is a strategy where traffic lights are temporarily adjusted to favour specific vehicles, such as public transit or emergency vehicles, reducing delays and improving service reliability and response times.

“You don’t see traffic signals along the Green Line route as it operates on a dedicated corridor,” the official explained.

“However, in this extended section, the bus will pass through three intersections. And to maintain a smooth and largely uninterrupted journey, the TSP technology will be used.”

Envisaged and executed in February, 2016, by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the Green Line project was originally scheduled to complete in a year with an estimated cost of around Rs16.85 billion.

However, it was only partially completed in January 2022, after almost six years, with the cost reaching Rs35bn.

Desperately seeking better transport for decades, the people of Karachi gave a positive response to the service. About six million citizens travelled through its 80 buses during its initial six months of service.

Another obstacle is the Green Line’s planned connectivity with all five BRT lines. The project was designed to first connect with the Sindh government-funded Orange Line-BRT, the shortest of the five lines, and then with the Red Line, which is still under construction.

The operational control of the Green and Orange Lines was officially transferred to the Sindh government in March 2025.

“Currently, the Green Line serves around 80,000 passengers per day,” said an official.

“Once the first phase of the extension is completed, we expect daily ridership to increase up to 135,000.”

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2025