Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with two other foreign institutions would extend Rs 66.378 billion ($417.920 million) loan for construction of BRT Red Line, Karachi.
The government of Sindh will repay this loan for Red Line Project to four foreign financial institutions-ADB and AIIB along with French Agency for Development and Green Climate Fund, which would extend the finances to it.
Loan agreement for the project with ADB and AIIB has been signed recently, according to a source in Sindh government. The project has been approved at the total cost of Rs 78.384 billion.
The project aims at improving the urban transport system (UTS) of Karachi and provided technical and financial support to implement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors and strength institutional and organizations managing the urban transport sector.
For this project, ADB provided project development assistance to build upon the feasibility studies for priority BRT corridors undertaken by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for Red and other BRT lines.
Karachi BRT Red Line Project has been planned to contribute to develop a sustainable urban bus transport system in metropolis with less travel time and enhanced mobility and accessibility.
The project envisages construction of BRT dedicated corridor measuring 24.2km in length from Numaish to Malir Halt Depot and common corridor of 2.4km from Municipal Park to Merewether Tower along M A Jinnah Road. Out of this total 26.6km length of corridor, 22.45km is at grade section, 1.72 is elevated and 2.43km is underground section.
Estimated passengers per day would be 320,000. Rigid concrete pavement has been proposed throughout the corridor length. The construction work includes eight off-corridor routes including direct and feeder services and procurement of 199 buses comprising of three types 9m, 12m and 18m.
The total cost of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project in Karachi jumped first to Rs 77.597 billion and then it was approved at the cost of Rs 78.384 billion compared to the original cost of the project, which was estimated at Rs 65.589 billion.
It is worthy to note that Sindh Government didn't agree with Ministry of Planning, Development & Reforms (MoDP&R) to delete overhead charges for construction of Karachi BRT Redline Project, which would reduce the cost of the project by Rs 16 billion. MoDP&R had proposed that deletion of overhead charges on Karachi BRT Redline Project will bring down from Rs 78.384 billion to Rs 62.371 billion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019