KARACHI, Feb 18: The city of Karachi requires 5,000 buses to cater to the passengers’ rush which has been growing steadily, Sindh Minister for Transport and Industries Dewan Mohammed Yousuf Farooqui said here on Monday.

Opening a special session on transport, shipping and logistics at the two-day conference of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the minister said urban transport sector was an attractive area for investment in Pakistan.

“Scania of Sweden, with Hispano and Alsa of Spain, are here and they are planning to operate long buses in the city,” he said.

Dewan Farooqui said the Daewoo Company of Korea, which was operating its buses in Lahore and Islamabad, was also interested to start operations in Karachi.

He said free, efficient and cost-effective movement of goods was vital for international trade and commerce.

“Transport and logistics account for 30 per cent cost of business transaction internationally and because of this reason Pakistan has also developed an adequate infrastructure for transport and communication sector,” he maintained.

The minister said two ports were already in operation, while the third at Gwadar was under construction.

He said transport network was being upgraded and expanded while farm- to-market roads were being developed.

He said the urban railways was another area of interest for the investors. The Karachi Circular Railway had remained closed for many years. The government, he said, recently hired a consulting firm from the private sector to carry out a feasibility study for reviving and expanding this much-needed urban service.

Dewan Farooqui said restoration of peace in Afghanistan had opened a host of opportunities for cross-border and transit trades in the region.

“Trucking will play an important role in this scenario as there is no other option for transportation of bulk cargo into Afghanistan. The trucking transport sector will need to be expanded quickly,” he observed.

He said the road transport sector itself had fallen into the hands of the transport mafia who operated in the informal sector.

“Through transport policy reforms and streamlining regulatory operations, we have had some success in curbing the mafia, but there is still a long way to go.”

The minister said through the ICC platform, Pakistan could also learn about different laws and systems governing movement of goods across the borders and transit trades in the world.

He said regulation of this sector had been lacking in Pakistan which resulted in abuse of the transit trade facility.

Later, experts made presentations related to transport and communication network. — APP