CDWP clears KCR project worth Rs292.4bn

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) cleared the Karachi Circular Railway project (KCR) worth Rs292.389 billion in its meeting held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal.

The meeting was attended by the secretary, Ministry of Planning Commission, the chief economist, officials from the Ministry of Railways and representatives from the Sindh government, including the chairman, PNDA Board, Sindh.

The project envisages construction of a 44-kilometre dedicated track and 1.435-meter wide standard gauge. It starts from the Drigh Road and passes through different areas, including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B Area, Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) and Lyari. The scope of work includes construction of horizontal & vertical curvature, roadway/railway cross-section elements, ramp gradients and layout of structures with respect to the alignment. The scope of work also includes construction stations, provision of driver, informatory, regulatory and warning signs and passenger facilitation signs along with allied facilities.

The project is part of an overall scheme of improvement of transport infrastructure, including road network, provision of public transport/mass transit facilities and traffic management in Karachi. The KCR development as a modern urban railway will add to the existing public transport facilities in Karachi, which have fallen short to meet the incremental demand over the last few decades due to non-availability of modern mass transit facilities and declining supply of large buses while the city continues to expand.

The main objective of the project is to provide reliable and environment-friendly public transport in Karachi. The project entails construction of a 43-kilometre dual track urban rail mass transit system expected to be constructed in a period of four years. The project is expected to serve a daily ridership of 457,000 passengers, which is expected to soar to one million per day in the future.

The project will deploy the use of electric trains and will be operational for seven days a week and 17 hours a day. Thirty stations would be constructed under the project along the corridor covering the densely-populated areas of the city.

The economic benefits of the project are phenomenal in terms of saving vehicle operating costs, environmental protection, accidents and time savings, contribution towards promoting gender equality and spillover tax impact. The minister/DCPC has directed the officials concerned to immediately settle the issues in PC-1 and submit a report in two days.