KARACHI, July 6: President Pervez Musharraf has summoned Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro to Islamabad to give a detailed presentation on the revival plan of the Karachi Circular Railway.

The Sindh government, after the briefing, would ask Islamabad for a financial allocation to execute the project at the earliest for convenience of the people of the city. The governor would also discuss with the president matters pertaining to the land and infrastructure of the KCR, owned by the Pakistan Railways, as without the ownership right, the Sindh government would be unable to execute the project, well-placed sources told Dawn on Saturday.

A meeting, presided over by the Sindh governor on Friday, and attended, among others, by the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, secretary transport, district coordination officer, Karachi, EDO transport and communications, Naib City Nazim, director-general of the KMTC and chief of Engineering Consultants International Limited (ECIL), was told that President Pervez Musharraf was interested in reviving the KCR operation at the earlier for which he had asked the Sindh governor to present the feasibility report finalized by the ECIL.

The sources said the issue of ownership rights of the land, railway stations and railway tracks of the KCR was discussed in detail at the meeting. It was informed that the Sindh government had not sold off the land to the Pakistan Railways, and it was the property of the Sindh government which should be restored to it. The sources, however, said the Pakistan Railways contested the claim of the Sindh government saying the land was owned by it and it could not be given to the Sindh government. The meeting was informed that the record of the revenue department showed that the ownership rights were with the provincial government, not with the Pakistan Railways. This issue could only be resolved by the president, the meeting was of the view.

The meeting decided that the Sindh government would ask the president that the federal government should remove the hurdles in the way of the KCR revival and take prompt decisions to settle acquisition of right-of-way from the Pakistan Railways.

It was suggested that the president be informed about the ownership of right-of-way by the city government, setting up of an apex organization to monitor and oversee the overall urban mass transport in Karachi, including the KCR, commitment to sustainable phased project development, quantum jump in the quality of service, indigenous manufacturing of broad gauge railway engines and AC coaches, making the KCR service and affordable, and its use as a means of cutting travel time and connecting the KCR service with other modes of transport, which were pre-requisites for the success of the KCR project.

The representative of the ECIL gave a briefing to the governor at the meeting. He said the KCR consisted of two stages. The stage-I of the project was estimated to cost Rs12 billion, to be completed in three and a half years from the day funds were approved and made available. President Musharraf would be urged to approve the project and allocate sufficient funds to execute it.

The stage-1 has the folowing components: improvement of a 30-km-long track, laying of an 18km-long new track from Malir Halt to Karachi Cantt railway station, improvement of the existing 6km-long track from Malir Halt to Malir Cantt, laying of a 30km-long 2nd track, improvement and extension of signalling and telecommunication facilities, construction of two new stations with rail/ road junctions, security fencing (30,000 meters), new road-rail junction stations and improvement of the existing stations, under/over passes at 12 level crossings, widening of five bridges and construction of small bridges and integration with bus routes and route rationalization. All this has been estimated to cost Rs3.2bn.

The rolling stocks have been estimated to cost Rs7.4bn, which would include 42 train sets (engine plus four bogies), workshop and yards, and buses for shuttle service.

Besides, the administration engineering service of implementation and design and contingencies have been estimated to cost Rs.1.6 billion.

The stage-II is likely to be completed in three years with an estimated cost of Rs8.33bn. In this stage, the laying of an additional double track from Malir Halt to Landhi, an additional double track between Karachi City and Cantt stations, a new spur between Drigh Road to Nazimabad via Nagan Chowrangi, a new spur between Nazimabad & Orangi, a new spur between Baloch Colony and Korangi, a new 0spur between Drigh Road and airport, construction of 16 new stations, two major bridges over the Malir river and signalling & telecommunication have been estimated to cost Rs4.19bn.

The rolling stocks, including extension of workshop & depots, shuttle buses and maintenance workshops, have been estimated to cost Rs3.06bn. Besides, Rs1.08bn has been estimated for administration engineering services and contingencies.

The ECIL was of the view that urban transport was being paid adequate attention all over the world. No megacity in the world, including Karachi, could do without urban mass transit through railways. This needed to be done without any further loss of time as delay would mean escalation of cost and encroachment of the right-of-way. Nowhere in the world local trains generated profits as the system was subsidized in one way or another such as subsidy on operations, government investment in infrastructure and system development, attracting the private sector by giving boost to their operational profits, incentives on income tax and duty-free import of equipment, free lease of land for commercial development to generate resources for system operation and maintenance.