Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday presided over the 11th meeting of the Provincial Coordination & Implementation Committee (PCIC) and decided to take over the Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC) to start Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) Project and resolved land issues of Malir Expressway to speed up work on the project.
The PCIC meeting was attended by provincial ministers Imtiaz Shaikh, Sharjeel Memon, Nasir Shah, Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab, Special Assistant to CM Qasim Naveed, Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Babar Iftikhar, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi. Commissioner Karachi Iqbal Memon, MD SSWMB Imtiaz Shah and others. The Chief minister was told that the Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC) would undertake the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project. The company was still under the control of the federal government. The chief minister said that he would talk to the prime minister to take over the KUTC which was responsible to fulfill the documentation of the KCR project.
The CM was also told that Pakistan Railways had demanded equal value of land from the Sindh government to handover the Right of Way (RoW) of KCR. At this, the chief minister said that the Sindh government had given land to the railway authorities purely for railway purposes. The KCR is also a train and it would operate on the same track, then why the railway authorities were demanding value of the land, he questioned.
The chief minister directed the DS Railways, present in the meeting, to resolve the issue and give the go-ahead to the provincial authorities so that it could be communicated to the Chinese authorities to initiate the KCR project. It was pointed out that the National Railways Administration (NRA), China required to conduct an updated feasibility study of the KCR Project. At this the P&D Chairman told the CM that the feasibility study has been done and sent to Chinese authorities.
The chief minister said that now the Chinese authorities have to make a Framework agreement to start the project. Malir Expressway is 3×3 lane, 38.75 KM high-speed controlled access road starting from Jam Sadiq Bridge and ends before the Kathore interchange near M-9. It has six interchanges to be constructed which shall connect major traffic arteries of the city. The Project is divided into two segments, 15 and 24 km respectively with a construction time of 30 Months. The first section from Jam Sadiq Bridge to Quaidabad is to be constructed within 1.5 Years (18 Months).
The completion of the first segment (till Quaidabad) is envisaged by the end of the current year. Construction activities are in progress on Interchanges at EBM Causeway, Shah Faisal, and Bridges over Nallah and Chakora.
The Construction activities on road pavement in the first segment are at an advanced stage. NOC of Pakistan Railways (PR) Objection of PR on design drawings was again discussed and sent back to PR on 1st August 2023. Construction of Embankment on almost 15 Km out of 24 KMs in progress in the second segment – from Quaidabad to Kathore. The Design related issues pertaining to the 2ndSegment Right Of way (ROW) passes through Samo, Lasi and Shafi Goths, the dense population settlement, envisaging removal/ compensation of structures.
It has been worked out that 138.2 acres of land would be acquired in the second segment with a tentative land acquisition cost of Rs 3.7 billion.
