Reality of KCR

Yet another round of surveys, feasibility studies and all what has been done many times before is beginning to unfold for the ill-fated Karachi Circular Railway (KCR). Sindh Transport Minister Nasir Shah is reported to have directed the officials concerned to arrange for a survey of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) route for a visiting Chinese team and provide its members with relevant data.
He told the Chinese team that the KCR is one of the major projects of the city that will resolve the transport issue of the metropolis to a great extent. As the KCR has also been included in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, the government would like to take advantage of the Chinese expertise in the implementation of the project. The minister has also asked the Chinese team to look into the 'Brown line' mass transit system to help solve transport problems of city commuters.
The Chinese are reported to have stated that after their visit they would like to meet officials of the Pakistan Railways and other relevant entities to get more input about the project before they reach a decision in this regard.
All of this is laughable; it is a scene replayed again and again for the last three decades; during this period many surveys and technical studies were conducted and all shelved. This visiting Chinese team will save much time and money if they just visit the archives with a view to securing the desired information. The latest and the most professional is the one recently prepared by JICA of Japan. JICA - like its predecessors - unsuccessfully struggled for years to revive KCR.
Karachi Circular Railway became operational in 1969 through Pakistan Railways with the aim of providing better transportation facilities to Karachi and its suburbs. The original KCR line extended from Drigh Road Station and ended at Karachi City Station, carrying 6 million passengers annually. The KCR was an instant success and made a significant profit in its first year of operation. During the 1970s and the 1980s, the KCR was at its peak with 104 daily trains, of which 80 trains ran on the main track while the remaining 24 on the loop line. The commuters were largely blue-collared workers who commuted from their newly established residential colony in Landhi to the then busting industries in SITE. This was a cost effective and most efficient mode of travel for workers.
During the 1990s, the private transporters of Karachi reportedly prevailed upon KCR to abandon it. By 1994, the KCR started incurring major losses. The number of loop trains was therefore reduced to a few locomotives. The result was an instant gridlock on Karachi streets. Moreover, workers lost a decent mode of travel. They were deprived of their dignity and self-esteem to mini-bus transporters. In no time did mini-bus transporters mushroom and in the process this hard working majority of Karachi lost their dignity of travel.
In 2005, under the then President Pervez Musharraf marshal plan to uplift Karachi, KCR's revival was once again initiated to fulfil the growing transportation needs of Karachi together with Karachi Mass Transit Project. For a long time the Sindh government fiddled whether they want to give it to the Chinese or the Japanese.
Subsequently, the Japanese, through the International Co-operation Agency (JICA), showed interest in the project in 2010. The subsequent years have been taken up in negotiations, proposals, counter-proposals, meeting conditions and appraisals.
The Japanese government had pledged in mid-1990s to fund Lahore Light Rail Transport System (LRT) under yen credit of US $500 million at an interest rate of 0.3 percent payable in 30 years. The pledge was inclusive of a 10-year grace period. After the nuclear detonation by Pakistan the Japan government withdrew from this Project. They returned back in 2010 and this time instead selected the KCR. They are reported to have offered a yen credit of over US $1 billion on soft conditions as earlier. They are reported to have also pledged to fund the rehabilitation of over 4500 families who had settled on and around the track. The Japanese government is reported to have sincerely spent much time and money to push through the project as best as they could over several years of hard work but appears to have withdrawn its interest in view of Sindh government's non-committed attitude. The Sindh government is now happily back to square one and is now reported to be aiming at KCR being considered under the CPEC. In the meantime, Punjab went ahead very much on its own strength to put in place a decent urban transportation systems Lahore and Rawalpindi-Islamabad in a record period of time providing millions of the working class to travel in dignity in air conditioned couches at affordable fares. The Mass Transit Orange Line in Lahore is under construction and is expected to roll out by mid-2018 thereby positioning Lahore in the ranks of advanced mass transportation cities of the region. The Multan Mass Rapid Transportation Bus System is to kick-start soon. Moreover, Lahore Transport Authority (LTA) has well managed to rope in all the private bus commuters under the discipline of LTA related to allocated routes, travel rates, uniform quality of commuters vehicles and staff. The private sector is more of a lucrative feeder service to Rapid Bus Service and it works well. The question therefore is: Why don't things work in Sindh?
Over the years, governance in Sindh has exponentially declined and has now reached the level of being totally subservient to the dictates of the vested interests. The solution to KCR and many other such initiatives in public interest lies in the governance quality of the political leadership and the state functionaries entrusted with the responsibility of state management
(The writer is former President Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry)