ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Karachi on Monday (today) to perform ground-breaking of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project.
Addressing media on Sunday, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said the ceremony will be held at Cantonment Railway Station. “Good news was coming for Karachi,” he said.
He said the Rs250 billion worth Karachi Circular Railway project will be completed in three years. The track of KCR is 43 kilometres long and 16 stations will be set up.
The governor said that Green Line bus service’s infrastructure had been completed, buses had reached the city and they were also starting the dry run of the buses in the following 10 days.
He said that Green line service would be inaugurated next month and soon after that K-IV project would be inaugurated. He further said that K-IV would be completed to meet the water shortage in the city.
Development of coastal areas
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said inclusion of Karachi Comprehensive Coastal Development Zone in CPEC is game changer and it will put Karachi at par with developed port cities of the world.
The prime minister said it will clean-up marine habitat for fishermen, develop 20,000 low income housing units and create opportunities for investors.
A monumental decision was taken during the 10th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) on CPEC, held on 23rd September at Islamabad and Beijing. The two countries agreed to include Karachi Coastal Comprehensive Development Zone (KCCDZ) under the CPEC framework ‘, said a press release here.
KCCDZ, an initiative of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs focuses on providing Karachi with an ultra modern urban infrastructure zone, placing Karachi amongst the top port cities of the world.
In a first of its kind even for CPEC, the planned multi-billion dollar mega KCCDZ project would be built on direct Chinese investment in partnership with Karachi Port Trust (KPT). The quantum of expected investment was around $3.5 billion.
Developed on reclaimed area of approximately 640 hectares on the Western backwaters marshland of KPT, KCCDZ would be a flagship project for not only Pakistan but the entire region. The environment-friendly mega KCCDZ, envisages four new berths for KPT, adding depth to Pakistan’s expanding maritime sector.
It would also house a state-of-the-art fishing port, with a world class fisheries export processing zone to boost Pakistan’s trade potential. It will also drastically improve the marine ecosystem and reduce pollution by establishing a water treatment plant at the mouth of the Lyari River.
