CM to make a case for including KCR, Keti Bunder in CPEC projects

The Sindh government has decided to step up efforts for the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) and Keti Bunder’s inclusion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah made the announcement while presiding over a meeting on the KCR project at the New Secretariat on Tuesday.

He directed Transport Secretary Taha Farooqui to find more donors to start the railways project. “This is unacceptable! The project has been hanging in the balance since 2008. This cannot be delayed further.”

CM Shah said he would write to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to include KCR in the trade corridor project, adding that he would also meet Planning & Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the Chinese ambassador.

He said the city’s traffic issues were worsening and becoming more complicated, adding that the solution lay in the KCR and bus rapid transit projects. He directed the transport department to prepare a case for the railway’s inclusion in CPEC.

Secretary Farooqui said the length of the KCR project was 43.12km and it would have 24 stations, adding that the expected number of passengers using the railways would be around 0.58 million per day.

He said the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) was mulling over providing a soft-term loan to the government on a mark-up of 0.1%, repayable in 40 years, including a 10-year grace period.

The transport official said the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) was formed to implement the project, adding that land acquisition costs, compensation to the people affected by the project, GST import duties and administrative costs would be borne by the stakeholders.

CM Shah was informed that the stakeholders with equity shares were the Railways Ministry (60%), the provincial administration (25%) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (15%).

JICA had conducted a Special Assistance for Project Formulation study between November 2008 and February 2009, and presented its report three months later.

On the basis of the report, PC-I was prepared and approved by the Planning Commission of Pakistan on September 3, 2009. The project’s environmental impact assessment was approved two month before that. The resettlement action plan (RAP) began in May 2009 and completed in 2011.

The chief executive was informed that K-Electric had declared the KUTC a strategic customer. An MoU was signed with the electric company in October 2010 for uninterrupted power supply to the KCR.

In February 2011 the Karachi Port Trust had confirmed handing over of 0.85 acres to the KUTC for the KCR project. The RAP study was approved by the donor agency on July 28, 2011. The project’s revised cost was approved in 2012.

The Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission has finalised satellite imagery of the KCR route alignment and the preliminary alignment plans have been finalised in consultation with JICA experts and the railway officials concerned.