Turkey offered to launch tram service in the port city, in a meeting of Turkish Consul General with the city Administrator on Thursday. Turkish Consul General Tolga Ucak called on Administrator Iftikhar Shalwani here on Thursday and discussed with him the matters of mutual interest and cooperation. Consul General Tolga Ucak said that his country was ready to extend cooperation for running a tram service in Karachi on M.A. Jinnah Road from Mereweather Tower to Numaish roundabout. Turkey could also help the metropolis for a tram service at I.I. Chundrigar Road of the city, Turkish diplomat said. Tolga Ucak while felicitating Administrator Shalwani over his posting, also offered his country’s cooperation for improvement and modernization of libraries in the city. The administrator said that Pakistan has an ideal bilateral relationship with Turkey. He also thanked Turkish Consul General for the offer of cooperation and said that re-launching of a tram service in Karachi will restore the past historic prestige of the city. “Steps are being taken to transform Karachi into a tourist hub like Istanbul,” he added. It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court has ordered authorities to restore in old areas of Karachi the tram service which was once a hallmark of the city but was closed down some 43 years back. The order were issued last year during a high-level meeting headed by the then Supreme Court’s judge Gulzar Ahmed and attended by key officials of Karachi’s civil administration, local government and railway. The meeting was held at the Supreme Court Karachi Registry. According to sources who attended the meeting, the judge also ordered that circular railways be immediately restored in the city; that the railway lands be reclaimed and that encroachments from the circular railways tracks be removed in coordination with respective deputy commissioners. The sources said the Supreme Court judge ordered that the tram service be run for tourism purposes from the city’s Saddar to old area. The judge has ordered preparation of carriages with the help of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), they added.
