Sindh govt's Orange Line BRT project misses another deadline

KARACHI: The Sindh government could not meet the deadline of May 30 for the operational launch of Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project being constructed under the provincial administration.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon, who also holds a portfolio of Transport, had set a May 30 deadline for the completion of the project.

The minister had directed the Sindh transport department to complete all the remaining tasks by May 30 and make the route ready for the service in the first week of June.

As per reports, the construction work for the four-kilometre-long service is still to be completed after more than five years of its ground-breaking in 2016.

The provincial government remained unable to complete the work for installing accelerators and lifts in the mass transit project, while the installation of PSD doors also appears unaccomplished.

The Orange Line corridor has a total of 11 elevators, out of which development work has been completed for nine of them. There are 10 accelerators, of which 9 accelerators have been installed while work on one is still in progress, according to reports.

There are 28 automatic doors, out of which only 2 doors have been installed and the remaining 26 doors will be installed this week.

No depot for Orange Line buses

The Sindh government has shifted all the 20 buses of Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to the federal government’s Green Line BRT depot in Surjani Town as its depot near Bananas Chowk was yet to be completed, it is learnt.

The 20 buses, imported from China recently, had been moved from Karachi Port to Surjani Town depot of the Green Line Bus Service as work on Banaras Chowk bus depot for Orange Line was not ready, it emerged last week.

Orange Line BRT project

The Orange Line bus project was launched by former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah in June 2016 to facilitate about 50,000 residents of Orangi Town.

The Orange Line bus project will cover a distance of four kilometres from the Orangi Municipal Office to Matriculation Board Chowrangi. A total of 20 buses would run under this system.

The project, which was dedicated to late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, was supposed to be completed within a year since its groundbreaking in 2016.