Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday inaugurated the landmark Rs35.5 billion Green Line Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) project, providing a modern travelling facility to 135,000 commuters of Karachi’s western and central districts.

The Green Line BRTS system, which includes 21 stations along with ticketing rooms, escalators and stairs, also has the facility of backup generators to ensure uninterrupted supply of power.

Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives got this federal government project through the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company (SIDCL).

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Prime Minister Imran Khan said as any modern city could not successfully run without a modern transport system, Green Line project will help fulfill the modern day transportation requirements of the residents of Karachi. Describing Karachi as an “engine of growth” for the country, he said, the prosperity of Karachi was considered as the prosperity of Pakistan. The prime minister said Karachi will also help Pakistan achieve progress and prosperity. He described the federal government’s Green Line project the first step towards modernization of Karachi in terms of transport, adding, governments in the past did not focus on modern transportation system for the mega city.

Imran Khan said since he had been seeing Karachi for the last 50 years, he had also seen this mega city transforming from “a city of lights” to “ruins” due to lack of management support system.

He said despite sanctions on Iran, its capital Tehran had become a modern and prosperous city with all civic facilities due to modern management system like any capital of the developed countries including London, Paris and New York.

He said Tehran, which did receive any funds from the public sector development program like in Pakistan, collects and generates around $500 million [per annum] in local revenue as against Karachi which might be collecting something around $30 million.

He stressed improvement in Karachi’s management system through the directly-elected mayor under a local government system like being introduced in Lahore, Peshawar and other big cities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Imran expressed his pleasure over the pace of work on other federal government projects in Karachi including the lining of nullahs, Trade Corridor and K-4 water supply project.

Imran Khan said he himself was supervising the K-4 project and will Insha Allah perform the ground-breaking of the K-4 project next month.

The project, after completion in 14 to 15 months, will start the supply of water from Keenjhar Lake to Karachi by September 2023, he added.

Imran urged the provincial government to also introduce the Universal Health Insurance System like the one introduced by the provincial governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to help address the medical needs of people, especially the poor.

He said with the provision of health insurance facility of Rs1 million per family to 100% people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab will also start providing health cards to people in the whole province from January 1 next year and will complete the process by March 2022.

The governments of Balochistan, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan also intend to start this health insurance facility, which was not even available in the developed countries, the prime minister said and urged the government of Sindh to also introduce the facility.

The prime minister highlighted the importance of the federal government’s Bundle Island city project for the people of Sindh and Karachi in terms of jobs and other benefits, and urged the government of Sindh to allow initiation of the project, for which the provincial government had earlier issued an NOC and then withdrew it.

The prime minister also mentioned the Ravi City project in Lahore – which was facing massive urbanization and where agricultural lands were being used for housing projects – and said now trees were also planted there to protect the environment.

“Karachi also needs a project like Bundle Island, and I again urge the government of Sindh to allow execution of the project,” he added.

Imran said it was his desire that all [the federal and governments] join hands to serve the country and its people.

He referred to the price of 20kg bag of wheat flour in Sindh and Karachi, which was Rs250 higher than in Punjab and KP and said, “If we work together, it will benefit the country.”