KARACHI: Work on the second phase of the Green Line project is set to revive after the high-ups of Pakistan Infrastructure Development Company Limited (PIDCL) met with Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Friday to address key concerns raised by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).

A statement said that a delegation comprising PIDCL officials and federal government spokesperson for Sindh affairs Barrister Raja Khaliq uz Zaman Ansari met the mayor at his office and briefed him on the revised plan.

“Mayor Wahab told the delegation that the Green Line works will be restarted immediately and completed within the stipulated time frame,” said the statement.

“The PIDCL team assured him that the remaining construction would be completed within one year.

During the briefing, officials informed the mayor that the 1.8-kilometre stretch from Numaish Chowrangi to Municipal Park (Jamia Cloth) will be developed with three new bus stations, marking a significant expansion in the revised design.”

Officials say stalled work on key transport scheme to begin soon; claim 1.8-km stretch from Numaish to Jama Cloth will be completed in one year

The decision to include these three additional stations has been finalised, the statement added.

The KMC, backed by the PPP-led Sindh government, had halted the federally funded multi-billion-rupee project in September, citing the PIDCL’s failure to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from municipal authorities before launching the work.

The municipal leadership of Karachi had challenged the authority of the federal government by questioning the role of its PIDCL in the urban development projects, insisting that all such initiatives in Karachi should fall under the city’s municipal jurisdiction.

The statement said that mayor Wahab, along with Barrister Raja Ansari, will formally announce the commencement of construction work next week.

The 1.8-kilometre-long extension phase of the Green Line from Numaish to Municipal Park on main M.A. Jinnah Road would include three stations with a 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.

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.

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.

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, November 22nd, 2025