DHAHRAN, March 26: Work on the Corridor 1 of the Karachi Light Rail Project (LRP) connecting Sohrab Goth to Tower, the main business district of the city, should commence by July/August this year.

The project is scheduled for completion within two years, Karamatullah Chaudhry, Vice President of Nespak, told a select gathering of engineers here in Dhahran this weekend.

According to studies of the six proposed corridors, this is the heaviest corridor. Hence construction on this corridor would be initiated first. Work on other corridors would be taken up later.

Making a presentation before a large gathering of Pakistani engineers and other guests under the auspices of the Institution of Engineers Pakistan, eastern province (Saudi Arabia) sub-centre, the senior Pakistani engineer said that bids submitted were under evaluation.

Giving details about the current status of the project, he said, that two bids had been received, one from a Chinese company and the other from a US company.

He said, now it was expected that the Americans would re-submit a bid in view of requirements and the financial mechanics of the project. He said the bids received indicated that the price tag on the project could be around $18 million per kilometre.

Mr Chaudhri said that in all probability, the rail would be running on the ground and where it was not feasible, owing to congestion on the road, such as on the M.A. Jinnah Road sector, it was proposed that it would run above the ground. That would make the project cost-effective, he emphasised.

He said that the Manila Mass Transit System built some years back cost $15 million per kilometre. But some other mass transit systems, such as in Bangkok today, had cost a lot more.

The ideal thing would be to have an underground system on the lines of London tubes, but the cost for such a project could be prohibitive. According to an estimate, he said, the cost of an underground mass transit system could go up to $90 million per kilometre.

Secondly, he said, it could be difficult, though not impossible, for the Karachi land, with rising water levels to support such an underground system. He told engineers and other senior Pakistani guests that there were 16,000 buses, 14,000 taxis and 25,000 rickshaws currently plying in the city, generating tremendous pressure on the roads and thoroughfares of Karachi.

The first report on a mass transit system in Karachi was prepared during 1950-52 when the first Karachi master plan was presented. In the intervening years almost 10 other reports on mass transit system for the metropolis were prepared and then shelved, he added. Of these the most important report was the one prepared by the World Bank during 1987-90, proposing six corridors.