Baqar wants Green Line and Orange Line projects integrated

Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has directed the provincial transport and mass transit department to finalise paperwork for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project for the forthcoming China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related joint working group (JWG) meeting and integrate the Green Line and Orange Line bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in the city to increase their ridership.

He issued the directives while reviewing different projects of the transport department in a meeting at the CM House on Thursday. The meeting was attended by Planning and Development Board Chairman Shakil Mangnejo, Principal Secretary to CM Hassan Naqvi, Transport Secretary Asad Zamin, and officers of the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA).

Circular railway

The transport secretary briefed the CM that the feasibility study of the KCR project had been completed and it would be a primary mass transit corridor of the city. The financing agency of the KCR would be CPEC and the project’s implementation, execution and operations would be carried out by the Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC).

The meeting was told that the KCR was discussed between Pakistani authorities and a Chinese delegation at the 10th JWG forum in September to finalise the updated feasibility study of the project submitted to the China Railway Authority.

The Chinese delegation responded positively and assured necessary approvals for launching the project in a timely manner. The CM was told that the federal government had asked the Sindh government to update the KCR framework agreement. Justice (retd) Baqar directed the transport department to finalise the framework agreement within the next three days.

He added that he would talk to the federal government to issue a sovereign guarantee against the loan to be secured for the project.

BRT projects

The CM was told that the Green Line BRT project had been operational in the city since December 2021. It is a 20.9 kilometre-long BRT system with 80 buses operating on a dedicated route with an average ridership of 55,000 passengers per day.

The CM said the Green Line’s ridership in terms of buses and the length of the project was not satisfactory. To this, he was told that when other BRTs such as Yellow Line and another feeder bus service would start operating in the city, the ridership of the Green Line BRT would increase to 150,000 to 200,000 daily.

The meeting was informed that the Orange Line BRT project was 3.8 kilometres long with 20 buses on the main trunk. Its ridership had been recorded at 3,000 per day. The CM directed the transport department to integrate the Orange Line with the Green Line to facilitate the public commute and increase the ridership of the existing BRT projects.

Justice (retd) Baqar said he would chair another meeting to review the integration process of Green Line and Orange Line services in the city.