The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) is likely to approve the much delayed $1.58 billion Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project in its meeting on Thursday. According to sources, the project has been included in the agenda of Ecnec's, final approval in its meeting scheduled for August 20 in Islamabad.
They said that on the part of government, it was final stage for approval of the project, after which, talks regarding the issuance of loans for the project would be started. The KCR project, which has gone through different studies of experts, both from Japan and domestic, has been facing delays by the concerned authorities since its closure in January 2000, sources said.
The slow paced development of the project, they said, had not only delayed the revival of KCR but it also increased the estimated cost of the project from $872.316 million to $1.58 billion during last few years. The last study of the project were regarding Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAS), which had recently been approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) for the rehabilitation of the project's affected persons, they added.
The different studies of the project had also completed with guidelines of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and World Bank. The KCR project was to be funded by the ministry of economy, trade & industry government of Japan, through Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). Tokyo had commissioned 100 percent funding for the project under "STEP Loan" at 0.2 percent mark-up rate for a 40-year payback time, including a 10-year grace period.
The KCR had gone off the tracks in 1997 due to the losses experienced by Pakistan Railways. Soon after the closure of the circular railway the citizens had to travel either through the congested buses or their own means of transport which increased the vehicular traffic causing the regular gridlocks on the main roads of the city.
According to sources, Karachi, being economic engine of growth and over 16 million population, was facing tremendous growth in traffic at 7.2 percent annually. Beside its disproportionate yearly growth of buses of 17 percent causing congestion and accidents, increasing in travelling time, the railway-based transport system was the need of the hour.
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