'People's Bus Service' inaugurated in Karachi

Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah on Friday inaugurated the 'People's Bus Service', comprised of 36 refurbished CNG buses that would run on Karachi roads from Tower to Quaidabad. The Chief Minister also took a drive in a bus and vowed to bring 36 more buses within a month to lessen miseries of Karachiites.
At a ceremony to bring 36 CNG buses on roads at the CM House, Qaim Ali Shah said people travel on bus rooftops than inside buses and he was aware of miseries faced by people during commuting in the city. "The government understands these miseries and it is planning and implementing bus projects to provide relief to the people," he said. Shah said the federal government planned to invest Rs 525 billion in 11 Sindh government projects which include the Karachi Circular Railway project, bus projects, sewerage and water projects but these funding was refused in the last meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI).
"This forced us to find investors for the projects and finally during a recent visit to China, their investors had agreed upon investing in transport projects," he said, adding that the KCR project would now be funded by Chinese investors instead of Japanese organisation, JICA. Sindh Transport Minister Mumtaz Jakhrani said the chief minister had signed three MoUs in China for provision of public transport services for Karachi and other cities of Sindh. He said the government would launch three more public transport services in Karachi that include Yellow Line, Green Line and Red Line.
It is to mention here that as such no public transport exists in the Sindh province and the people of the province are facing hardship for years and they are at the mercy of private transport businesses which are fleecing commuters. "Bids for yellow line are issued while the CM had promised to grant Rs 3 billion, which were sanctioned for Green Line which will now be funded by the federal government after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's announcement, so that the projects could be initiated soon," he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Minister for Local Bodies and Information Sharjeel Inam Memon said that out of 72 buses, 36 were brought on roads which would charge Rs 20 from each passenger and will only accommodate passengers as per their seating capacity. Sharjeel said the PPP had always worked for improving Sindh infrastructure and several bridges and roads were constructed during the PPP era. He said that Sharae Faisal was also built in the era of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
He said three flyover projects were initiated during the current tenure of the PPP government and one of them would be completed within two months while the others would be completed by December 2014. He acknowledged cleaning and water shortage issues in the Karachi city and said that there was a water shortage in the city as having 1,000mg/day demand the city was only receiving 650 mg/day. "K-Electric load shedding at KWSB water pumping stations is also playing a key role in increasing water shortage in Karachi," he said.
He said that a committee comprising PPP, MQM, Jamaat-i-Islami, PML-N, PTI and other political parties was formed while representation from the business community was also included. "The committee will have the power to hire or fire any government employee found guilty of negligence," he said.
He said that the provincial government was taking all measure to avoid floods in Sindh, including urban flooding in Karachi. "Encroachments on natural drains are great hindrance in better disposal of water in the city as 2.0 million people are living on encroachments on several nullahs in the city," he said, adding that they are giving one-month ultimatum to vacate these nullahs otherwise strict action with the backing of media, civil society and political parties would be taken against them.
He said that private parties would be invited for collecting waste in different districts of the city and the same pattern would be followed in other parts of the province. KMC Administrator Rauf Akhtar said the KMC has refurbished these buses with the co-operation of the Sindh government and it would be run by the department on minimal fares and better facilities. He said the KMC had completed 10 projects worth Rs 3.789 billion that include several roads and flyovers in the city while 9 projects were under construction that include flyover at Ayesha Manzil, Liaquatabad and Malir.