Daily Times

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar on Saturday said that the first consignment of 40 Green Line Project buses would arrive from China on next Sunday. He said that the Green Line was the first state-of-the-art project, which was being introduced to the city with a 20.5-kilometer-long corridor.

He stated this while addressing a press conference along with Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi at KPT Port House Karachi. Asad Umar said a bus depot had been built for 80 buses whereas 22 bus stations had been completed. He informed that a comprehensive command and control centre had been established for the projects including Green, Orange Line, etc.

He said the second consignment of 40 more buses was expected to be reached by the end?of October. Asad Umar said that the Green Line would be made operational in the month of November.

He said that cleaning of nullahs of the city was in the process. The minister said cleaning work including the sewage system would also be started in Lyari and Malir in the second phase.

The minister said the PTI-led government would complete the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project soon. Initially around 450,000 passengers would be facilitated on a daily basis and by time it would grow to over one million passengers daily.

He said a 55 kilometers long freight corridor from Karachi Port to Pipri would be built along with the main track. He added that freight items would be transported by train instead of trucks or other vehicles.

Asad Umar said that water was a big problem of the city and K-IV project was pending for years, adding, the PTI-led government had re-started work on the project.

He said that under the Ahsas Programme the federal government had provided Rs65 billion to Sindh including Rs7 billion to Karachi.

He said Karachiites had been provided Rs10 billion for vaccination doses, adding,?after the 18th amendment the health sector was the responsibility of the provincial government but, the Sindh government had even not provided a single dose of the vaccine to a citizen.

‘The federation would provide vaccine doses worth Rs25 billion in-all to Karachi’. He said the census would be carried out by using modern technology.?

He, on the occasion, also criticised Pakistan People’s Party for non-deliverance in the province.

Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to conduct fair and transparent elections of cantonment boards in different parts of the city on Sunday (September 12).