Govt opens bids to procure buses for Karachi's Green Line project

KARACHI: In the latest development, the government has started the bidding process to procure buses for Karachi’s much-awaited Green Line BRT project, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to details, the technical bids for Karachi Green Line BRT project will be opened on August 21. The federal government has released Rs5.5 billion for the Green Line bus project.

The government will award a tender to a successful company for the purchase of buses for the Green Line project in October. Overall 12 international and national companies have shown interest in the tender issued by the federal government for the purchase of buses back in April.

It may be noted that the 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 95 percent infrastructure of Green Line BRT has been completed while work on some stations is underway.

The construction work on Phase-II track of Karachi’s Green Line bus rapid transit project will also start in the ongoing month. The track on MA Jinnah road will be completed with a cost of Rs2500 million.

The phase-II corridor from Gurumandir up to Municipal Park with a length of 2.5 km has two underpasses at M.A Jinnah Road. The track from Numaish Chowrangi to Capri Cinema has already been closed for traffic.

The Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL), a federally-run entity will look over the construction work of Karachi’s Green Line phase-II project.

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

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