Centre to hand over KUTC’s control to Sindh

The Sindh government and the Pakistan Railways will form a working group to fulfil the legal requirements of handing over the administrative control of the Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC) and the “Right of Way” of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project to the province.

The decision was made during a meeting between Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Federal Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafqiue on Friday.

The chief minister was assisted by provincial transport minister Nasir Shah, additional chief secretary (dev) Mohammad Waseem, principal secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, transport secretary Taha Farooqui, and finance secretary Hassan Naqvi.

The chief minister said he intended to revive the Karachi Circular Railway project and had held a number of meetings.

He added that he had taken up the project with Chinese authorities to have it included in the CPEC.

He said the length of the original KCR project was 43.12 km starting from Drigh Road to Alladin Park.

He added that the present scope of the project has enhanced as it could be started from City Station to Steel Mills and then along the Super Highway DHA City towards Merewether Tower. This will cover the entire city, including industrial and residential areas.

The chief minister and the federal railway minister agreed that a new feasibility study should be conducted through international bidding so that the future requirements of the KCR could be covered. The chief minister will visit China to attend the Joint Council for Cooperation conference by the end of this month and to take up the project there.

The KCR was commissioned in 1964 and remained an effective mass transportation system till 1984.

Its operation efficiency was adversely affected because level crossings, causing increased running time and lack of investment. The operational efficiency went on deteriorating, resulting in its subsequent closure in December 1999.

Latter, on the behest of the federal government, JICA carried out a study in 2008 and filed its report in 2009. JICA proposed providing a soft-term loan but it never materialised because of one reason or the other.

In 2008, the KUTC was formed with 60 percent shares of the Pakistan Railways, 25 percent of the Sindh government and 15 percent of the KMC.

The KUTC had to start working on the KCR project. The chief minister, to start the KCR project, prepared a plan to take over the administrative control of the KUTC.

Discussing his move, Shah said he had written a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif requesting him to hand over the ownership of the KUTC, formed for the KCR project.

Shah said he was grateful to the prime minister for approving the request.

The federal minister assured the chief minister that he would provide the necessary expertise to the Sindh government for the project. 

The Pakistan Railways would provide 260 acres to the provincial government for the construction of the KCR. It was also pointed out that there were 3,600 encroachments along the KCR route; therefore the chief minister directed his team to work out a plan to remove them.