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Friday March 29, 2024

49 buses for Orange Line, intra-city bus service arrive at port

By Our Correspondent
May 12, 2022

A total of 49 buses for the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project and Intra-District Peoples Bus Service reached Karachi port on Wednesday evening.

The foundation stone for the Orange Line was laid in June 2016 by then Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah who had announced that it would take just one year to complete the project.

Around six years on, the project is still not finished. Earlier, the provincial government had given the deadline of November 2021 to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) and contractors to complete the construction of the Orange Line BRT track, but they failed to meet the deadline.

The provincial minister has directed the SMTA to get the civil and electric works for the Orange Line BRT done by the end of this month. The Orange Line BRT has been renamed after Abdul Sattar Edhi Line.

As the 49 buses reached the port, Sindh Transport and Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon tweeted that the remaining buses were on the way and they would reach in different phases within one month.

Red Line BRT

Meanwhile, Memon held a meeting with Trans Karachi, the company executing the Red Line BRT project, on Wednesday and directed it to initiate the construction work by Saturday.

The Red Line BRT’s project consultant, contractors and other transport department officials were also present in the meeting. The provincial minister discussed issues and obstacles in the project and the way out to remove them.

Sindh Transport Secretary Abdul Haleem Sheikh, Sindh Mass Transit Authority Managing Director (MD) Capt (retd) Altaf Hussain Sario, Trans Karachi CEO Wasif Ejlal, CFO Jatan Kumar, GM Project Director Syed Murtaza Asghar, Project Consultant Sohail Abidi and others attended the meeting.

The minister directed the company to expedite the infrastructure development work on the project, saying that he would visit the project site on coming Saturday. He directed the contractors of the project to move entire fleet and human resources to the project site and start work on the project on Saturday. He asserted that the project should be completed in two years. “The Sindh government will extend full cooperation to Trans Karachi and contractors. I, myself and my entire team would extend 100 per cent support to you,” Memon said. He was of the view that the Red Line BRT was the most important project of Karachi, which would improve the infrastructure of the city.