Govt to procure electric buses for Karachi’s Green Line BRT

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday presided over the second Provincial Coordination and Implementation Committee (PCIC) meeting here in Karachi to discuss ongoing development projects in the metropolis, ARY News reported.

According to the details, the meeting decided to launch a waste to electricity project for which necessary measures would be taken at the earliest.

The meeting also discussed purchasing buses for Green Line for which it was proposed to procure electric buses. The buses will be operated by a private company. The meeting set a timeline for different tasks for completion of the projects, including the repair of 106 existing roads by the KMC.

It may be noted that Karachi’s Green Line BRT project with intersections is 24 km long which includes 12.7 km elevated, 10.9 km at grade, and 422 meters underground and has 25 stations.

The state-of-art underground bus terminal with parking facility and the commercial mezzanine floor was being also being constructed at Numaish.

The construction work on Phase-I was started in 2016.

The matter of lifting of garbage came under discussion during the meeting in which it was pointed out that out of 15 Garbage Transfer Stations (GTS) only six were operational, therefore revival or reconstruction of six other GTS was agreed upon.

The meeting decided to work out a plan to generate power generation from the waste being collected from the city at the earliest. The firms interest in the project may be invited for submission of their proposals.

The meeting was also told that the survey of five nullas has been completed. Gujjar Nalla has a length of 1.3 km with 210 feed width as per master plan, and 5961 households, 41581 individuals and 2412 commercial units established along its embankments. Orangi Nulla has 12.5 km length, 100 to 150 feet width and 4480 households, 27000 individual settlements and 380 factories are established along its embankments.

Similarly, Mahmoodabad Nulla which has a 4.1 km length, 100-200 feet width, has 1049 households, 5900 individual settlements and 156 commercial settlements along its embankments.

The chief minister said that an ideal cross-section would be proposed for each drain based on terrain and flow models for current and future improvements and the best management plans for drainage network to mitigate the risk of urban flooding to be prepared.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Nasir Shah and Awais Qadir Shah, Corps Commander Karachi Humayun Aziz, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, GOC Karachi Major General Aqeel, Chairman P&D M. Waseem, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Administrator Karachi Iftikhar Shahalwani, Commissioner Karachi Sohail Rajput, Secretary Transport Shariq Ahmed, Secretary Local Govt Najam Shah, MD Water Board Asadullah and others.