‘Karachi witnessing collapse of its public transport system’

Agreeing that Pakistan’s largest metropolitan city is witnessing the collapse of its public transport system, the Karachi Transport Ittehad chairman on Saturday said that since 2010 the number of buses, minibuses and coaches has decreased in the city from around 22,000 to a few thousand only, causing the residents to suffer.

Irshad Bukhari was addressing a seminar, titled ‘The Past and the Future of Karachi’s Transport’, which was organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Karachi chapter at an institute. Under its ‘Rebuild Karachi’ initiative, the religious party took the stakeholders of the city’s transport sector on board at the event, which was presided over by JI Karachi deputy chief Osama Razi.

Bukhari said the torching of buses during forced strikes and political turf conflicts was one of the major reasons behind the decrease of buses on the road. “The only way forward for the transport sector in Karachi is a public-private partnership. Investors and the public sectors will have to come forward for any progress and betterment in the transport sector of the city.”

Referring to a driving school in the city, the Karachi Transport Ittehad head pointed out that the institute used to issue permits for bus driving after a month-long training.

Former Sindh transport secretary Dr Tahir Soomro said the city is facing a massive issue of traffic because the past governments ignored the mass transit project introduced by the late Naimatullah Khan, former city mayor.

“Even today the mass transit system is the only solution to resolve the transport issues in Karachi. The entire city needs to be interlinked through six corridors under the mass transit project.”

The JI’s Razi said the ruling party in the province does not have the capability to resolve the prolonged issues being faced by the residents. “Karachi has become a city of problems, and the gravity of these issues demands a public service-centric model of politics in the city.” He urged the residents of the city to take part in the collective efforts to resolve the issues, or at least play their due role by highlighting them.

Pakistan Engineer Forum leader Kazim Mansoor said Karachi is the seventh largest city of the world.

“Big cities even in Ethiopia and other African countries enjoy mass transit systems. But on the other hand, Karachi is deprived of it because neither the federal government nor the provincial government owns it.”