The Sindh government has, in principle, decided to bring at least 500 diesel-run buses, instead of 1,000 CNG buses for the metropolis, Business Recorder learnt on good authority on Friday. This plan was changed in view of the CNG shortage, additionally, the move also attempted to reduce the burden on the national exchequer.
For the past two weeks, Sindh has been facing two-day closure of CNG stations. Previously, Sindh was facing 24-hour CNG load-shedding every week. Sources told this correspondent that the long-pending multi-billion-rupee Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Transport Programme was unlikely to materialise any time soon. The Rs 2.5 billion project was announced by the federal government in 2006-07. It was delayed because of the lack of interest on part of the PPP-led coalition government in Sindh government, which is currently facing a political crisis.
Under this project, some 500 CNG buses were to be brought on road in Karachi by February 2008, while at least 1,000 buses were to be introduced in the entire province. As many as 600 buses were to run on different inter-city routes, 100 on Karachi-Sukkur, 100 on Karachi-Hyderabad and 50 each on Karachi-Larkana, Khairpur-Benazirabad and Mirpurkhas routes, sources added. Sources said that the main financier of the project, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), pulled out of the project after indifference of the Sindh government and the political instability in the province.
Besides, the Centre also refused to provide its share of Rs 700,000 per vehicle, citing financial crunch, they said. They said that the transport department forwarded two requests to the Centre to provide funding for the project. However, the federal authorities showed reluctance citing 'financial crisis' as the reason because the project would cost Rs 5 billion, they informed.
The defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) had also completed all groundwork to initiate the project. Furthermore, sources said, the federal government had informed the Sindh government that the project could not be initiated because of shortage of funds and energy crisis.
Instead, the government is considering to remove CNG cylinders installed in buses and vans to avoid further gas crisis, the sources said. President Asif Ali Zardari, during a recent visit to Karachi, had approved three major projects, including the CNG bus project, for Karachi.
Interestingly, the Sindh transport department changed the plan to bring CNG buses with diesel engine and in this regard a project implementation unit has also been set up at the office of the provincial transport minister, Akhtar Jadoon, inside the Pakistan Secretariat.
Comments
Comments are closed.