KARACHI: The Sindh cabinet on Wednesday proposed the authorities to halt work on old Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project, and urge the Federal government to make financial arrangements to begin work on the modern KCR as approved and included in CPEC.

The Sindh Transport & Mass Transit department officials told the provincial cabinet that out of 24 crossing sites of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) 11 crossings will have to be constructed either in the shape of underpasses or flyovers for smooth flow of traffic. They said the detailed design and preparation of PC-1 for the proposed structures has to be made by the FWO for which the Sindh government had to release Rs 25 million.

Sindh government has already released Rs 15 million and the cabinet approved release of remaining Rs 10 million. However, the cabinet observed that with the start of the old KCR, the modern KCR as approved and included in CPEC projects could not be launched. Therefore, it was proposed that the present KCR may be stopped and work on modern one (KCR) be started by urging the federal government to finalize the financial mechanism with the Chinese authorities to start the project, otherwise it would be an injustice with the people of Karachi to travel in old KCR.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020