Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah formally approved the proposal of starting construction work on the first lot of Karachi BRT Redline starting from Malir Halt Depot to Mosmyat for Rs 14 billion. “This is good news for the people of Karachi and I am sure the work would be started on war footings so that it could be completed within two and half years.”
This he said on Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of TransKarachi here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, Secretary Transport Khalid Shaikh, Mohammad Shaiq Usmani, Rukhsana Rahoojo, VC NED Dr Sarosh Lodhi, CEO of TransKarachi Wasif Jalil and other concerned officers.
The Chief Minister was told that the Karachi BRT Red Line (KBRT) Project was being implemented with the assistance of ADB and Co-financiers’ including AlIB, AFD and GCF. The total cost of the project is Rs 78384.33 million. TransKarachi is the Implementing Agency for the project.
The KBRT project corridor passes through urban areas of the city originating from Malir Halt and terminating at Tower via Malir Cantonment, Safoora, University Road and Numiash.
The Civil Work for KBRT Red Line Infrastructure would be carried out into two Lots. The LOT-1 (Malir Halt to Masmiyat) and LOT-2 (Mosamiyat to Numaish). The LOT 1 contract was signed on December 8, 2021, with a successful bidder for Rs 14 billion while LOT-2 was signed on January 4, 2022 with the successful bidder of Joint venture (JV) of China Railway and AM Associates for Rs16 billion.
The Chief Minister was told that among the various infrastructure related works to be carried out within the project, one of the most important works was relocation of utilities within the BRT corridor of the KBRT project. For this purpose, various utility service providers were consulted during the project design stage. The company is in touch with utility agencies and they were ready to shift their lines from the ROW of the project, the Chief Minister was apprised. He was also told that the Biogas plant was being planned at the existing abattoir land of 31 acres at the Karachi `Bhains Colony’ for the Bio-gas plant on DBO Design, Build and Operate basis.
