The Sindh government will soon introduce an electric cab service in Karachi to provide modern, inexpensive, and environment-friendly commuting facilities to the residents.
This was disclosed by Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon as he spoke with the media on Sunday after inspecting work on the corridor being built for the Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service in the city.
He said that the launch of a new and cheaper cab service had become all the more important after the existing ride-hailing services had phenomenally jacked up their fares. The Sindh government had been seriously working on introducing a new environment-friendly and comfortable cab service in Karachi and very soon, the project would be finalised, he added.
The transport minister told media persons that the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had asked the Sindh government to expeditiously complete transport-related projects in the city so that the people of Karachi could enjoy modern mass-transit services.
He said the Sindh government had been doing its best to fulfill its obligations concerning the provision of mass transportation facilities considering them as one of the fundamental needs of the people.
Memon explained that billions of rupees were being spent by the Sindh government for the provision of modern and comfortable mass-transit services to the residents and the Sindh Mass-Transit Authority (SMTA) had in this regard been working day and night to increase the number of modern buses in Karachi and complete the infrastructure for the mass-transit projects.
About the Red Line project, he said it was 22 kilometres long and was being built from Malir Halt to the Numaish intersection. He added that it would be the first-ever mass transit service in Pakistan running on clean biogas, for which the construction of a biogas production plant would soon start.
He said the Sindh government would also soon introduce an electric bus service in Karachi. Regarding another BRT project, the Yellow Line, the transport minister said the paperwork for the project was being finalised in collaboration with the World Bank and soon work would also start on it.
He recalled that in the recent past, the Sindh government had launched the Peoples Bus Service and Orange Line section of the BRT in the city.
Memon said BRT systems were present in all the large developed cities in the world for the provision of speedy and comfortable mass-transportation facilities and the same service was being introduced in Karachi.
He said the Malir Cantonment Board and all the relevant federal agencies were fully on board and providing cooperation for the construction of the Red Line corridor. He added that the city administration had been given a seven-day deadline for removing all the encroachments to making way for the Red Line.