KARACHI, April 30: Sindh government is committed to solve the issue of the land along the tracks of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR)and the Chinese firm, which has shown interest in reviving the KCR, would be given the right of way after its feasibility is approved.

The provincial Minister for Transport, Adil Siddiqui, observing this while talking to newsmen at his office here on Wednesday, maintained that there was no conflict on the issue of the land that was the provincial government’s property.

He said the Chinese firm, China Machinery Corporation (CMC), was preparing a feasibility on the revival of the KCR and it would soon submit its report to the provincial government. He said that he would take up the issue with Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.

He said that the PM would be briefed on the importance of the KCR which, he indicated, was the cheapest, economical and environment-friendly mode of transport. “If we succeeded in reviving the project, we believe it will be a gift for the people of this city,” he added.

The CMC delegation had a meeting recently with the officials of the City’s transport department and Pakistan Railways to review the past studies on KCR and its potential.

In the meeting, sources said, the Railways had given a cool response to the CMC’s offer dashing the delegation’s hope for success.

Sources close to the CMC told Dawn that the ownership of the land in question was still bone of contention between the government and PR. They were of the view that the firm would not be able to execute the project without having the right of way and a reasonable stretch of land along the KCR tracks to raise stations as well as commercialize them to attract passengers.

The sources said the CMC was observing attitude of the government and PR closely. After submitting the feasibility, the firm would seek a settlement of the land issue without further delay and insist on the execution of the project by it.

The transport minister appears quite hopeful as he regards the provincial government competent enough to allow the CMC use the land in question for the revival of KCR.

An official in the transport department said the CMC’s Vice President, Ms Kin Roi Jan, in her recent meeting in Karachi with the transport minister, had lodged a complaint that they (CMC) still did not know with whom they should make a deal on the project.She told the minister that development projects were definitely being given importance in Pakistan, but they could not be completed if hurdles were created by government officials.

The minister assured the delegation of all possible assistance at every level in resolving the problems in the KCR revival to ensure that it could neither be delayed nor abandoned.

“We have already wasted millions of rupees on the mass transit programme. Due to lethargy, attaching less importance and inefficiency,work on the project could not be initiated as yet,” an official quoted the transport minister as saying.

The KCR project had been shelved after the refusal of Rs20 billion grant by the federal government some seven months back. The decision was taken when a presentation on KCR was made to President Musharraf at a meeting in Karachi in September last year.

The federal government had expressed its inability to continue funding the loss-making project. The KCR operation was finally suspended on Dec 15, 1999.

Later, the newly elected government, attaching great importance to the project, sent its representatives to China to explore the possibility of its revival.

A senior official in provincial transport department said the CMC had offered the government a separate study on the KCR and a feasibility at an estimated cost of US$3.5 million.

The provincial government has already spent more than Rs3 billion to build flyovers on different level-crossings in the city for an uninterrupted flow of circular train. Besides, it has also spent Rs322.5 million on many studies meant for mass transit plans and nothing has come out for the implementation of any of these plans, according to the sources.