Sharjeel invites UK business community to invest in Karachi’s public transport

Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon has invited the UK business persons to invest in the public transport sector of Karachi, saying the city is peaceful and an ideal destination for investment in Pakistan.

He extended the invitation during a meeting with a delegation of the British Commission, led by Batool Zehra, who called on him here on Thursday. The delegation comprised the second secretary and trade manager of the UK’s diplomatic mission in Pakistan.

Others who attended the meeting included Special Assistant to Sindh CM on Investment Qasim Naveed and Transport Secretary Abdul Haleem Sheikh. Memon said vast investment opportunities were present in Karachi, and the Sindh government had been striving hard to introduce a modern public transport system in the city.

The People’s Bus Service had lately been launched in Karachi while the Orange Line BRTS service would shortly become operational, he added. Memon said that it was a priority of the government that public buses of the European standards should be introduced in Karachi.

He said the chief minister had sanctioned the release of Rs1.5 billion for upgrading the road infrastructure of Karachi, especially different routes of the People’s Bus Service, and the uplift work in this regard had been launched.

He informed the delegation that the uplift work to improve the routes of the People’s Bus Service would be completed in a month. He said the proposed Karachi Circular Railway service would be an important mass transit project for the city.

Memon said the CM had taken up the issue with the federal government that the KCR should become a part of the CPEC regime for its expeditious development. He mentioned that the CM had also demanded that the federal government should devolve the control of the KCR to Sindh.