As treachery Karachi roads present chaotic scenes because of the unbearable burden of traffic mess most of the times on a working day, it is unfortunate that a comprehensive public transport system named Blue Line project, one of the three Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) schemes, has been shelved by the Sindh government. Planned and announced four years ago with much funfair by the government, perhaps only to attract a good press and to get good gains in the elections after three years, the project was welcomed by the residents of the cosmopolitan city. The Blue Line – the 9.6-kilometre-long project from Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth to Gurumandir through Shahrah-i-Pakistan – was to evolve into an MRT scheme. At Gurumandir, Blue Line would link with the Green Line project. At that time, projects Green Line and Orange Line were also launched, which are ongoing till this day, and of them Green Line will see its inaugural in 2020, if things go by the plan. In the case of the Blue Line, the disheartening factor behind the snapping of the mass transit project is financial constraints. The government has decided to put on hold the Blue Line project, as we are told, after consultation with officials, due to the poor financial health of the province.The federal government’s irregular payments, often short of the target, to the Sindh government are one of the reasons behind complaints by the provincial government. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah says his government received Rs 505 billion from the federal government, out of its share of Rs 631 billion – means the province has yet to receive Rs 126 billion from Islamabad. The Sindh government is under an immense burden to resolve Karachi’s transport problems with its own resources and by securing loans. A project – Red Line – is being built with a loan from the Asian Development Bank. The bank will grant a $235 million loan for the project – a 26.6-kilometre fast-track transport corridor from Model Colony to Numaish Chowrangi. The Green Line project is being financed by the federal government, which has been going at a snail’s pace. The delay in Blue Line will enhance the project cost. The sufferings of motorists and commuters on peak hours will also keep on multiplying. Karachi lacks modern mass transit means, thanks to successive governments’ abhorrence to the modern transport projects. Over the years, Karachi roads have become too little and too narrow to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic burden. The Sindh government must revise its decision of shelving the Blue Line and take to the road of modern roads. *
