CJP irked by delay in Karachi mass transit projects

By News Desk

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmad on Friday took strong exception to officials’ claims that the Orange Line and Green Line projects were almost complete and would be operational soon.

Heading a three-member Supreme Court bench, which heard the cases of restoration of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), removal of encroachments and other important matters here at the Karachi Registry, he remarked that there should be no more delay in making the projects functional and the transport should start running on them from swiftly.

The chief justice said the metropolis had an obsolete transport system. The buses manufactured in 1955, despite being in awful conditions, were still plying the roads of Karachi. The court was informed that the Green Line, which starts from Surjani Town, was launched three years ago while the Orange Line project would be opened for public next year. Justice Ahmed questioned as to why the project could not be made operational during the current month. Why could not the two projects be completed in one year despite availability of human and financial material resources? he further asked.

Advocate General of Sindh Salman Talib Uddin apprised the bench of the progress on the Karachi Mass Transit Plan and also submitted a copy of the same. The chief justice observed that the plan was prepared in haste and hence lacked planning.

Talib Uddin told the bench that different development projects were being executed in the metropolis with the financial assistance of World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Justice Gulzar observed that

all those who were working on the projects in the city knew very well that they might collapse any time because of use of substandard material.

Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed along with AG Sindh Salman Talib Uddin briefed the bench about the current status of the ongoing anti-encroachment campaign in the city.

Referring to the collapse of a five-storey building in Golimar, the chief justice asked who was responsible for the deaths. Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah, the Secretary Railways and senior officials of the relevant departments attended the proceedings.