Karachi Transport Master Plan: JICA presents progress report to technical body

Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has completed surveys in 18 towns of Karachi under the first ever 'Transport Master Plan' of the city. About 40,000 residents from 18 towns and six cantonment boards participated in the survey. According to sources, the Japanese team, which has been working on the master plan for the last one year, presented its progress report to the technical committee of Sindh Government on Wednesday.
The report was presented by Minoru Shibuya, Japanese team's head in a meeting of the committee, headed by Managing Director Karachi Mass Transit Cell Malik Zaheer. The meeting was attended by experts and officials of various departments including Finance Department, Planning and Development, Civil Aviation, KPT, Port Qasim, DHA, Military Land Cantonments, Traffic Police, Population Department, Pakistan Railways, and City District Government Karachi (CDGK).
The representatives of the departments hailed the work and progress of the JICA team. The study under 'Transport Improvement Project' would be completed within two years, which would be the first tranport-related master plan of any city of the country.
Sources said the study, would facilitate the preparation of 'Karachi Transport Master Plan 2030'. Besides, it would validate the transport project identified in the Karachi Development Strategic Plan-2020 (the transport section of Karachi Master Plan). It is worth mentioning here that for the last 62 years, no master plan of transportation has ever been prepared for any city of Pakistan and it is for the fist time that a complete planning for at least 20 years is being made for Karachi.