The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has signed an agreement with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) for evolving the first ever "Transport Master Plan" of the city under JICA funding. According to sources the study under "Transport Improvement Study Project" would be completed within two years, which would be the first transport related master plan of any city of the country.
They said the study of the survey team, would facilitate the preparation of the "Karachi Transport Master Plan 2030." Beside, they said it would validate and screen the transport project identified in the Karachi Development Strategic Plan-2020 (the transport section of Karachi Master Plan).
It would also prepare the feasibility study report for the highest travel demanding corridors of the city while providing the reasons for implementation of transport programmes in correlation with Karachi Master Planning activities, they added.
For the last 62 years, they said, no master plan of transportation has been prepared for any city of Pakistan and it was the first in the history that a complete planning for at least 20 years was being made for Karachi. To launch any transport related project, the government, semi-government or private firms have been facing the lack of any planning to be followed, they added.
Interestingly, the Karachi Mass Transit Programme, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Transit CNG Bus Project and Bus Rapid Transit System, the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), Lyari Expressway and other improvement projects were being started in the absence of transport related Master Plan.
In the absence of the same planning three signals free corridors also have almost been completed while another one was in pipeline. It is to mention here that a preliminary meeting with JICA representative Nobuhiro Kawatani was held in Islamabad on September 15, 2009.
The JICA study was to be included the person trip, future traffic demand, roadside interview of citizens, transport related institution such as District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA), travel speed, environment impact, estimate capital cost for Rapid Mass Transit Project, etc.
The signing ceremony of the project was held at the office of Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Sindh where the agreement was signed between CDGK and JICA representatives. ACS (Dev) Munawar Hassan Opel, represented the Sindh Government in the signing ceremony.
The ceremony was also attended by the Chief Economist, Special Secretary (Technical) and Foreign Aid Chief, Planning Development Department Government of Sindh, Director General Monitoring and Evaluation Cell, Local Government Sindh, DCO Karachi, Director General Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC), JICA's visiting team and other government officials.