PM says federal govt will complete K-IV project by Sept 2023 to fix Karachi’s water woes

Nazir Siyal/DNA

KARACHI, DEC 10 (DNA) – Underscoring the point that a modern transport system was a must for the city of the 21st century, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that in Karachi’s development lay Pakistan’s development.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Green Line Bus service project in Karachi, he said that the entire United Kingdom (UK) depended on its capital London for its progress and prosperity, and the city had the world’s most modern transport system.

“Same is the case with several Chinese cities,” he said, and added, “Even Tehran, the capital of Iran, which has been hardest hit by the sanctions, has modern transport facilities. Iran collects $500 million in revenue and spends it in a systematic manner. In comparison, Karachi doesn’t even collect $30m,” PM Imran noted, and stressed the need for giving the Sindh capital autonomy so that the local government system could succeed.

“We don’t just make promises, we deliver,” he boasted.   PM Imran said unfortunately no government in the past had ever concentrated on the improvement of the country’s largest city’s transport system. “I am witness to Karachi’s degeneration in the past 50 years. We have seen its transformation into a cave because we did not focus on its administration,” he said.

He said under the project, 30 buses would operate on the track, while 135, 000 passengers would be able to avail the facility daily.   He informed that the completion of the project cost the government over Rs35 billion. 

The prime minister, on the occasion, congratulated Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Asad Umar and Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL) on remaining determined and steadfast to ensure completion of the much-awaited project.

Earlier, Asad Umar thanked the SIDCL and parliamentarians from Karachi for their efforts for the project. He said the Sindh governor was ‘supervising’ the project since the PTI came to power in 2018.

The minister recalled that although the project had been approved in 2016, but the PML-N government which stayed in power for the next 28 months even failed to build the project’s infrastructure. “The order for the buses was also not placed and neither was the payment system designed,” the federal minister said, and added the operation and maintenance tender was also not placed.

He added that the PML-N only thought about building a track surrounded by grills with no other facilities available. Earlier, PM Imran inaugurated the project, which will operate on a trial basis for the first 15 days before becoming fully operational on December 25.