KARACHI: The decision to terminate the contract for Lot-2 of the Karachi BRT Red Line project has been declared null and void, with the contractually-mandated Dispute Board ruling that the termination was illegal and contrary to the provisions of the contract.
In a majority decision of two-to-one, the three-member board — comprising senior Pakistani engineers nominated by both parties — observed that the project was delayed not because of the contractor alone, but due to repeated changes in design and administrative shortcomings.
The Board fixed the main responsibility for the delay on the project management team and consultants.
The ruling is the latest twist in the years-long saga of the Red Line, a 26-kilometre corridor from Model Colony to Numaish Chowrangi via University Road that was first announced in 2016.
Originally funded by the Asian Development Bank and billed as a game-changer for Karachi’s 20 million residents, the corridor — which cuts through the city’s education, health and commercial heart — has become a byword for delay.
For over three years, University Road has remained excavated and partially blocked, causing daily gridlock, dust pollution, closure of businesses, and what citizens describe as “years of pain and grief” with no end in sight.
According to details available in public domain, the Sindh government on April 21 issued a notice cancelling the Lot-2 contract, sealed the contractor’s site office and stopped work.
The contractor had earlier claimed that a road stretch he was building for Rs3 billion was now being re-tendered at Rs13bn, alleging that “some people in the government kept doing all this to make money” and demanding a commission to probe delays — a comparison he drew with timely completion of projects like the Hazara Motorway in Punjab.
The matter reached the Sindh High Court, which directed both parties to approach the Dispute Board established under the contract.
In its findings, the Board held that the contract was terminated in haste.
“The contract cannot be terminated on the basis of non-completion of work within the stipulated period alone,” the decision said.
The board pointed to continuous design revisions as the core cause of delay. It noted that the revised design of only one of the 16 stations under Lot-2 was provided in November 2025, while the designs of the remaining 15 stations were not available to the contractor even after the termination notice.
“Due to these changes, the project was delayed, but the consultants were not held accountable,” the decision observed.
In a stinging remark on execution capacity, the Board said that TransKarachi, the project implementation agency for the Sindh government, “does not have the required experience and capacity to run such a large project effectively.”
The ruling, however, is not final. Under the contract, parties can file an objection against the decision of the Dispute Board within 28 days. If the dispute is not resolved by mutual consent within 56 days, the matter will proceed to international arbitration.
A spokesperson for TransKarachi was not immediately available for comment on the Board’s decision.
Legal experts say the ruling could have major financial and administrative implications for the Sindh government, which will either have to restore the contractor on site or face a lengthy arbitration process while University Road remains in its present state — a daily ordeal for hundreds of thousands of commuters.
