The Sindh High Court has asked the Sindh government about the completion dates of mass transit projects in the province.
The focal person of the transport department has been instructed to submit a written reply and specify the completion dates.
The court resumed hearing a petition on running 15,000 buses in Karachi to overcome its transport problem.The focal person told the court that work is being done on the Red Line and Orange Line projects. The Green Line bus project will be completed soon, he said.
The court said everything will be done but asked the official to please submit it in writing.Sindh Governor Imran Ismail submitted his reply on the completion of the Green Line bus service.
He said that “Phase 1 of the infrastructure for Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System has already been completed” while Phase 2 will be completed by March 2021.“The federal government is undertaking the Green Line BRTS operations for three years at a cost of Rs10,956.1 million,” he said, adding that the amount will be transferred to the Sindh government. The Green Line project was started by the PML-N government. Its estimated cost was Rs25 billion and the project was to be completed in 2017 but the PML-N could not finish the job in time. The PTI government has announced several dates for the project’s completion since 2018.On November 21, Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar said the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit project will be completed by July 2021.A petition was filed in the high court against the lack of mass transit projects in Karachi.
The petitioner said that people are worried as they have to depend on chingchis while travelling in the city. Chingchi and taxi drivers charge whatever amount they want from passengers and it has made life difficult for commuters.
No one is paying attention to the transport problems in Sindh, the petition added.
