Work on Red Line to start in July, says CS

The Sindh government announced on Wednesday that it will commence work on the proposed Red Line section of the bus rapid transit service (BRTS) in Karachi in July this year.

The decision to this effect was reached at a meeting held at the Sindh Secretariat chaired by Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah. The chief secretary also announced on the occasion that the 250 buses that would operate on the Red Line section of the BRTS would consume bio-gas as fuel to keep their operations environment friendly.

The meeting was told that a bio-gas plant would be established at the Cattle Colony in the Landhi area of the city and the plant would consume 3,000 tonnes of manure every day to generate fuel for the Red Line buses. The plant would provide 11 tonnes of compressed bio-gas daily for the bus operations and the capacity of the plant would be further increased if there was more fuel demand.

The initial feasibility of the Red Line project has been completed. The Asian Development Bank is on board to build the mass transit project with a cost of $500 million.

The Red Line corridor will be built from Malir Halt till the Numiash intersection of the city via University Road. A cycling track would be built along the bus track from Peoples Chowrangi to Safoora Chowrangi. The meeting was informed that it would be the third-generation BRTS to be built in Karachi as it would also be used by public transport service of eight different routes.

The Sindh government is going to launch a programme for restructuring of the public bus industry in the city.

The present operators of public buses would be given incentives under the programme to sell off their existing bus fleet and purchase new buses under public-private partnership programmes to operate on these routes.

The chief secretary said on the occasion that the use of bio-methane as the fuel for new buses to operate on the Red Line section would be helpful in reducing carbon emissions. He added that the project would provide the facility of commute to 350,000 passengers daily. He explained that some 25,000 tree saplings would be planted along the Red Line route. He directed all the related utility service providers in Karachi to make sufficient alternative arrangements to make way for construction of the Red Line BRTS corridor.