ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project on Monday (tomorrow), Governor Sindh Imran Ismail confirmed on Sunday.
According to a statement issued by Governor House, the Prime Minister would arrive in Karachi tomorrow (Monday) and perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the circular railway project aimed at facilitating the local people in the metropolis.
In the first phase, the infrastructure will be fixed and then the project will formally kick off in the second phase. The government will be spending Rs250 billion on the project, which is expected to be completed by 2023.
One train will accommodate approximately 800 passengers. Twenty-five trains will be run initially. KCR’s complete track will start from Drigh Road station, going through Gulistan-e-Jauhar and heading to Gulshan-e-Iqbal.
From there it will turn towards Nazimabad going through Yaseenabad and Liaqatabad. The track then heads to Manghopir and SITE before going taking a turn towards Baldia and going through Lyari, Mereweather Tower, City Station, and onward to PIDC and Karachi Cantt.
The KCR would then run parallel to Sharah-e-Faisal and go through Chanesar Goth, Shaheed-e-Millat, and Karsaz before completing a round trip at the Drigh Road station.
“The Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System will be inaugurated by next month,” the statement stated, adding that the Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, better known as the K-IV project, will be completed by the end of 2023.
GreenLine busses arrived in Karachi
On September 19, the first consignment of 40 buses for the Green Line bus rapid transit system (BRTS) reached the city from China. Addressing a ceremony at the Karachi Port, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said “another milestone” had been achieved with the arrival of the buses.
He appreciated the efforts of the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL) to ensure the completion of the Green Line project within its timeline, according to a statement issued by his office.
The dedicated corridor will serve some of Karachi’s most populated areas, covering Surjani Town to Gurumandir and Numaish Chowrangi in phase 1. “The second consignment of 40 more buses is expected to reach in October 2021, and phase 1 of the project would be made operational by the end of November,” the governor added.
One of Karachi’s major public transport projects, the Green Line BRTS was estimated to be completed by the end of 2017, but kept getting new deadlines as Karachiites continued to suffer in the absence of a proper mass transit system.
