The Green Line bus service will be inaugurated today (10 December) by Prime Minister Imran Khan during his short trip to the metropolis.
Despite lofty promises by major political parties that they are doing everything they can to solve Karachi’s problems, this would be the city’s first mass transit project.
Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar stated the PML-N did nothing to operationalize the project other than building the track for the buses while speaking to the media on Thursday after inspecting arrangements for the inauguration event.
Furthermore, he added, “No major contribution was made during the PML-N government after the groundbreaking of the project in February 2016,” adding the PTI government decided to complete the project in May 2020 on a fast-track basis.
Later, in an interview with a television channel, the minister stated that the operation will begin on a trial basis from December 11 to 24, but that commercial operations will begin on December 25 and the full-scale operation will begin on January 10.
He had claimed that all of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s huge projects for Karachi are being built and will be completed soon and that 40 BRT buses will arrive from China in March to help the megacity get up and running as soon as possible.
According to Umar, the planning ministry has received the updated PC-I for the K-IV project, which will be approved in the coming month, and new contracts are given.
The minister said, “Through the K-IV project, we aim to supply 260 million gallons of water to Karachi and by August or September 2023, the project will be completed. Work on three Mehmoodabad nullahs is completed and it will be inaugurated in next few days.”
He also stated that half of the work on the other two drains, Orangi and Gujjar, has been done and that they will be inaugurated before next summer.
Lastly, Umar said that the government is also planning to build a freight corridor from Kemari Port to Pipri.
