KARACHI, Dec 13: Thirty-two large-sized Scania buses were unloaded at Karachi Port on Friday. With the arrival of these buses, it is likely that the city government would fulfil its promise to begin the operation of these omnibuses in the city in January.

After the unloading of the Swedish buses, the city government organized a ceremony in connection with the arrival of these buses at the Karachi Port Trust, where Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro was the chief guest. Among others, officials of the city and provincial transport departments and representatives of the Swede-Bus Pakistan were present at the ceremony.

The governor said the present government had been striving to provide facilities to the common man. He praised officials of the city and Sindh governments, who made efforts to bring in these buses and worked for their operation on roads.

Welcoming the arrival of the large-sized buses, City Nazim Naimatullah Khan said: “Minibuses and coaches plied in the city as there is no alternative, so people have been compelled to travel in these small and uncomfortable vehicles. These omnibuses and those expected to arrive later will gradually replace the minibuses and coaches.”

He said these 32 buses were an Eid gift for the people. These buses would bring about a favourable change in the transport culture of the city and would also help in improving the environment as they were environment-friendly.

He asked the local transporters to begin replacing their minibuses and coaches with large-sized buses. “If they cannot import large-sized buses individually, they can form groups to import large-sized buses,” he said.

He said four buses of the Green Bus Company were already plying between Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Merewether Tower on an experimental basis. He added that another 25 buses of the same company were expected to arrive here from China by Dec 19. These buses would be operated under the Urban Transport Scheme (UTS).

Ahmed Shabbir, the chief executive of the Swede-Bus Pakistan, highlighted the brief history from the signing of memorandum of understanding to the arrival of the Scania large-sized buses and thanked the federal, provincial and city governments for extending help in this regard.

He said the operation of the large-sized buses would begin in January as drivers and conductors were now under training. Their training would be completed soon, and then the buses would be brought on the roads.

He said: “We are going to set a new trend in the transport culture and give others a model guideline to follow. We will build 40 bus stops each at a distance of 1.5km along each of the two routes allotted to us. We will also be responsible for the maintenance of these bus stops.” He added that the depot, which the Sindh government had given them, was being built in accordance with the international specification.

Talking about the Scania bus, Mr Shabbir said the bus was 12 metres long and had three doors. There was a separate door for women. Forty passengers could travel sitting and another 60 could be accommodated standing. The conductors would be trained, who would operate the computerized ticketing system. Drivers, with minimum matriculation qualification, had been appointed. They were now under training. More than 250 people would get jobs. In the next phase, the company would assemble the buses locally, he added.

Large-sized Scania buses have been allotted two routes: one from New Karachi to Merewether Tower via Sohrab Goth and the other from New Karachi to Merewether Tower via Nazimabad.

The buses would be operated under the supervision of the Karachi Public Transport Society, not under the newly-announced UTS as the Swede-Bus Pakistan has made direct investment in the transport sector without the assistance of the government. The company has, however, imported these buses duty free.

Sindh Secretary Transport Raja Mohammed Abbas, EDO KMTP Malik Zaheerul Islam, EDO Transport and Communication Dr Tahir Soomro, KPTS Administrator Shamsuddin Abro and others were also present at the ceremony.