Chief secretary calls for speedy completion of Green Line project

Sindh Chief Secretary (CS) Major (retd) Azam Suleman Khan has asked the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) to ensure the completion of the Bus Rapid Transit Green Line project at the earliest so that other BRT projects could also be materialised to facilitate the citizens.

He said this in a review meeting with SMTA at the Sindh Secretariat on Thursday. Khan expressed displeasure over the delay in completing the project and advised officials to take the necessary steps to avoid any further delay.

Transport Secretary Saeed Awan and Karachi Commissioner Sualeh Ahmed Farooqui informed the CS that Phase-I of the project from Surjani Town to Guru Mandir was completed, stretching over 24 kilometres and consisting of 35 stations. It would facilitate 400,000 passengers on a daily basis.

The managing director for SMTA mentioned that the work on Phase-II from Numaish Chowrangi to Tower will commence next week. The CS noted that he would visit the sites to inspect the progress himself. He also advised that all bottlenecks must be removed for speedy completion of the project to benefit passengers with a better traveling environment.

Earlier, Caretaker Minister for Transport and Mass Transit Col (retd) Dost Muhammad Chandio had expressed his serious annoyance at the slow pace of work in building the Orange Line section of Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) being funded and constructed by Sindh government.

In June, Chandio had visited the site of the Orange Line section, which is being built from Orangi Town as it will merge with the under-construction Green Line section in Nazimabad.

Green Line designs

The Green Line, which is funded by federal government, will also feature an underground bus station at Numaish -- the first of a kind facility in Pakistan, according to Mayor Wasim Akhtar.

He had been previously informed in a meeting that with the addition of the underground bus station, the revised cost of the Green Line project has increased to Rs2.4 billion.

As per the design, the tunnel which will be half a kilometre long, would be fully covered and have a width of 30 meters with six lanes for the passing buses as well as parking vehicles.

The project is also said to have drainage pumps, a fire-fighting system, emergency exits and a ventilation system, while maintenance of the station would be the bus operator’s responsibility.

Akhtar has said that the Green Line was the need of the hour since citizens have been facing acute transportation problems. However, citizens have come forward with complaints arising from the delays in the project. “For the last three years, roads in the city have remained dug up in the name of the project and slow-paced work has made the lives of residents miserable. Frequent traffic jams are now the order of the day, while leaders reside in posh areas and travel in air-conditioned cars,” a resident, Iqbal Ahmed said in an earlier interview. How can they know and feel the difficulties faced by common people, he questioned.