Sharjeel wants ADB camp office in Karachi for timely completion of BRT Red Line project

Sindh Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon has suggested that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) should set up a camp office in Karachi to strengthen coordination in a bid to resolve day-to-day issues with Pakistan’s first biogas public transport project, i.e. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line, and complete it on time.

He floated this proposal in a meeting held at his residence with a high-level delegation of the ADB on Tuesday. The ADB delegation was headed by Senior Urban Transport Specialist Lloyd Wright, and it included Senior Operations Manager Lisa Jane, Senior Project Officer Shaukat Shafi, Project Coordinator Tahir Sheikh and Consultant Sadiq Aftab. Transport Secretary Abdul Haleem Sheikh, Managing Director Sindh Mass Transit Authority Zubair Chana, General Manager Infrastructure Trans Karachi Pir Sajjad and others also attended the meeting.

The meeting reviewed progress on the ongoing infrastructure development work of the BRT Red Line being carried out with the cooperation of the ADB. The BRT Line is under construction from Model Colony to Numaish Chowrangi. The meeting discussed in detail the construction of a bus depot and a biogas plant, besides solutions to problems with the project.

Memon said the Sindh government has taken 100 per cent ownership of the BRT Red Line project. He added that the project is under construction in the densely populated area of Karachi, which has presence of several utility lines. However, the Sindh government, he said, is committed to removing all obstacles, including relocation of the utility lines.

He said the government was available 24/7 to solve all the administrative problems facing the project. The provincial minister informed the delegation that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation had handed over land to Trans Karachi for the construction of a bus depot in Alladin Park, while a piece of land had been allocated for the construction of a biogas plant in Cattle Colony.

“The KMC will soon hand over this land to Trans Karachi,” the ministers said, adding that the Sindh government was keen to complete the BRT Red Line project within the stipulated time. After the recent successful projects launched by the government in the public transport sector, public interest in these projects had increased, he said.

The people of Karachi wanted the BRT Red Line facility to be available to them as soon as possible, he said and suggested that that ADB should be up its camp office in Karachi so that the day-to-day affairs of the project could be taken care of amicably and the speed of work on the project could be accelerated.

Lloyd Wright, senior urban transport specialist at the ADB, pointed out major obstacles to the project. He said the transport department, particularly Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, had given his full time to the project, which had accelerated the progress of the project to a great extent. The delegation assured that the ADB would continue to extend technical support and cooperation to the transport department for the completion of Pakistan’s first environment- friendly public transport project.