Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali presided over a meeting on Thursday to review plans for the construction of Karachi’s Yellow Line BRT project.
Sindh Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, the World Bank delegation, and the Sindh transport and mass transit department all attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Transport Minister informed the attendees that the Yellow Line BRT is a 21-kilometer project that will run from Dawood Chowrangi to Numasih.
The conceptual plan calls for a 21-kilometer-long Yellow Line BRT project with intersections in Karachi, with 17.6 kilometres at grade and 3.2 kilometres underground, and 28 stations.
The chief minister directed that a new four-lane one-kilometer-long bridge be built adjacent to the existing Jam Sadiq Bridge.
During the previous meeting, the provincial government and WB agreed to repair the Jam Sadiq Bridge, which has served its purpose but is in disrepair.
CM Murad also directed the transportation department to begin construction on the project as soon as all formalities were completed.
Yellow Line BRT
The Yellow Line BRT covers a distance of 21 kilometres from Dawood Chowrangi to Numaish Chowrangi.
The total cost of the project will be $438.9 million, of which the World Bank will have a share of $381.9 million, the Sindh government will pay $19.5 million.
Under the conceptual plan, eight underpasses will be constructed at Murtaza Chowrangi, Singer Chowrangi, Bilal Chowrangi, Vita Chowrangi, Shaan Chowrangi, Brooks Chowrangi, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Korangi Road intersection, and at the Sunset Boulevard intersection. In addition, the Jam Sadiq Bridge will also be widened.
Karachi Breeze project
Karachi Breeze is a 112.9 km (70.2 mi) network of Bus Rapid Transit lines under construction in Karachi. The name was officially given by the Sindh Mass Transit Authority for Karachi’s Bus and Mass Rapid Transit system.
However, only two lines, Green Line and Orange Line BRTs have started services in Karachi. The construction work on Red Line BRT and KCR is underway.
Green Line BRT
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 phase-II common corridor from Gurumandir up to Municipal Park with a length of 2.5 km has two underpasses at M.A Jinnah Road.
The state-of-art underground bus terminal with a parking facility and the commercial mezzanine floor was also constructed at Numaish intersection.
The construction work on Phase-I of the project was started in 2016. The project was launched by then Prime Minister Imran Khan in December last yaear
Orange Line BRT
The Orange Line corridor is 3.88 kilometres long and provides connectivity from Orangi Town to the Board Office traffic intersection. It has five stations while its depot has the capacity to park 30 buses.
The Orange Line BRT project was renamed after the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi as Abdul Sattar Edhi Line by the Sindh government in May.
The 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 project was supposed to be completed within a year since its groundbreaking in 2016.
Red Line BRT
The Red Line will span 26 km from Safoora to Tower. It is expected to have an average daily ridership of 625,000 passengers.
The route of the 26-kilometer BRT Red Line project will connect Model Colony to Johar Complex en route Jinnah Avenue and Malir Cantt while the buses will run through University Road, Hassan Square and Numaish roundabout.
4 stations would be constructed on this line which will run from Malir Halt to Numaish via Model Colony, Safoora Goth, King Cottages, Met Office, NED University, Safari Park, Nipa, Urdu University, Masjid Baitul Mukarram, Civic Centre, Askari Park, Dawood University and Society Office.
It would be the first-ever transport project to be run without any subsidy by the government, whereas, a wide cycling track will also be built along with the bus route.
Blue Line BRT
According to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA), which was established under the SMTA Act 2016, Blue Line is a proposed bus rapid transit project. The project’s initial planning suggests that the 9.6-kilometre-long project was designed to go from Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth to Gurumandir through Shahrah-i-Pakistan.
At Gurumandir, the project will link with the Green Line project, which is being funded by the federal government.
KCR project
Former prime minister Imran Khan performed the groundbreaking of the long-awaited Karachi Circular Railway project last year in September.
The Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) earlier this year approved new Karachi Circular Railway project. The new KCR is being built with an estimated cost of Rs292 billion on the basis of a public-private partnership.
Karachi Circular Railway envisaged the construction of a 43km-long world-class affordable mass transit system using environment-friendly electric trains.
