KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday performed the groundbreaking of the much-awaited Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project.
Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony held at the Cantonment Railway Station, PM Imran said, "In the 1980s, Karachi was on its way to development and was taking off but, unfortunately, its progress declined."
The prime minister said that the metropolis, despite holding immense significance, had unfortunately faced a decline due to several problems in the past. As a result, the whole country was affected.
The PTI-led government took the initiative to redevelop the city, and launched various projects such as the Karachi Transformation Plan, which was introduced in 2020.
"We initiated the Karachi Transformation Plan, in collaboration with the Sindh government, to uplift the metropolis," the premier said, adding that in order to resolve the issues faced by Karachi, both the Centre and the provincial government will have to work together.
‘Centre cannot resolve issues of Karachi on its own’
"The federal government cannot resolve the issues of Karachi on its own, therefore, the provincial government must cooperate."
PM Khan spoke about the problems of transportation faced by the citizens of Karachi and said that, unfortunately, this sector was neglected and investment remained insufficient.
The premier said that big projects, like the KCR, often get stuck which incurs more cost. Therefore, governments have to employ additional efforts for such projects.
"Since the KCR is a big project, the Sindh and the federal governments will have to push harder for its timely completion so that it could turn out to be a cost-effective project," the premier said.
He said water shortage is a big challenge in Karachi and K-4 project will help resolve this issue. The prime minister said that Karachi is the economic hub of the country and we have to design more projects for the city to cope with the growing population and transport issues
Karachi Circular Railway
Earlier in the day, Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati had issued a statement regarding the KCR and had said that the project will be completed in three years against a cost of Rs207 billion.
The KCR's 29-kilometre track will have 16 stations and 24 level crossings. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) will lay the track for the KCR while automatic air-conditioned coaches will be run on the track, he said in the statement.
Each train will comprise a locomotive and four coaches and will facilitate 814 passengers at a time. Global tenders will be invited for procurement of the trains.
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