KARACHI, Oct 6: The transport and communications department (TCD) of the city government has denied that there is dispute between the provincial and city governments over the issue of the Green Bus Company.

In a statement on Sunday, the Executive District Officer (EDO) TCD, Dr Tahir Soomro, said the factual position was that the Karachi Green Bus Company, owned by Pakistanis living in the USA, were invited by the city Nazim as part of his continuing efforts to attract the much-needed investment in the transport sector by private investors. After detailed meetings with the company, a MoU was signed on May 9.

He claimed that clause 2 of the MoU allowed import of four brand new buses and clause 15 stipulated that the company would be provided with all incentives, discounts and other benefits under the Urban Transport Scheme (UTS), including subsidy on mark-up. (The MoU had been signed much before the setting up of the UTS was announced).

He said the UTS was announced through newspapers on July 3/4 this year. A pre-bid meeting was held with prospective bidders and proposals were received from 15 companies.

Mr Soomro said the company’s CNG buses had arrived in the city, but routes had not yet been designated or assigned. Routes permits had not been issued, nor had the government registered any of these buses.

Commenting on a news item “Sindh, city government differ over plans for buses” which appeared in this newspaper on Oct 2, he said: “Let it be very clear that there is absolutely no dispute between the city government and the government of Sindh.”

Sources in the TCD said under the UTS, only a company having at least 25 buses in its fleet could be eligible for the incentives under the UTS. The Green Bus Company or any other company could take their buses on the road under the KPTS or under the Free Transport Policy and could get route permits, but they could not get incentives under the UTS until they increased the number of buses up to at least 25.

The sources said there was no concept of transport management in the city even after the establishment of the city government. A transport management board or a UTS-like body should be there to evaluate a prospective transporter whether he was eligible for a route permit or not.

“The city needs more than 5,000 buses. Private companies have shown their willingness to bring 1,600 buses. We have to assign all of them routes under the UTS after going through the process of evaluation. The UTS procedure is being followed strictly and the ranking of the companies would be announced by the Urban Transport Management Committee,” an official said.