Ironic .... Same fate for Transport sector....... 60 years of fighting and still going on ............. When our leaders will think of the common man who is suffering..
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KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was told on Tuesday that a controversy between the provincial and city governments over the mass transit programme had delayed the execution of the CNG buses project for Karachi.
Responding to a question raised by Farheen Mughal and supplementary questions raised by other MPAs during question hour, Transport Minister Akhtar Hussain Jadoon informed the house that despite the row, Sindh would now get 4,000 CNG buses under a federal government national mass transit programme.
About the delay in the establishment of high-pressure CNG filling stations for these buses, the minister said: ‘We now have allotted land for the establishment of five such stations in Karachi at different places, including that on Sharea Faisal.
‘The federal government will give a Rs700,000 subsidy on each bus and soon after the completion of the CNG filling stations, provision of these buses will start,’ he added.
‘In this regard we held a meeting with State Bank officials this month and discussed relevant financial matters,’ the minister said.
In response to a question raised by Husna Aftab, the minister said that the government intended to shift bus stands for intercity vehicles from Karachi to outside the city.
‘These schemes have been sent to the federal government through the planning and development department and if approved and funded in ADP 2009-10, they would be implemented within two years,’ he said
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Karachi. June 17: An interactive and consultative meeting on federal government’s CNG Bus Project was held at the State Bank of Pakistan on 16th June 2009.
The meeting was attended by prequalified operators and suppliers of CNG buses, Officials from Government of Pakistan including Chief Executive LGIP Project Hilal Raza, Advisor Legal Affairs Muhammad Owais, Chief Economist Govt. of Sindh Orangzeb Haque, Asif Masood, Chief Technical Officer ENERCO and representatives of Ministry of Environment, Government of Sindh.
Director General of Karachi Mass Transit Cell, CDGK Malik Zaheer-ul-Islam provided the complete profile of the CNG Bus Project, its modalities and concessions given to the operators.
He said that the federal government had approved a subsidy of Rs.5 billion for this project out of which Rs2.5billion had been accorded for Karachi. According to the modalities 4000 CNG buses will be inducted in Karachi in five years under public private partnership project. In the immediate phase 500-1000 buses will be inducted in Karachi.
He said that Karachi CNG Bus Project will be implemented by CDGK. Already 40 CNG Green Routes have been identified for Karachi Project while the CDGK has also identified Bus Terminals, Bus Depots, Bus Stops and other facilitation of the CNG buses operation.Malik Zaheer said that the construction of new signal free corridors in Karachi would also help in the smooth implementation of the project.
During the meeting Advisor Legal, IPDF comprehensively provided the details of the concession agreement.
Chief Executive of HDIP Hilal Raza explained his commitment to provide and facilitate the provisioning and support for the CNG filling stations.
The participants of the meeting specially pre qualified operators/investors/suppliers and manufacturers of CNG bues appreciated the homework done by the Karachi Mass Transit Cell, CDGK in consultation and support of IPDF, HDIP and ENERCON for smooth implementation of the project.
Chief Economist Government of Sindh, Aurangzeb Haque assured all kinds of support and help for the project from the Government of Sindh and called it a project in the interest of the city.
Director Banking Policy and Regulation Syed Irfan Ali also spoke on this occasion. He reminded the bankers about the banking and social responsibilities of bankers.
This may be noted that the federal cabinet in its meeting on 16th July 2008 endorsed the project and also extended some additional comforts in favor of the operators under the Prime Minister’s Green Transport Scheme for ten major cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Hyderabad, Gujranwala and Sukkur.
The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari had during his visit to Karachi on 20th April 2009 issued directives for implementation of this program as “Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Bus Project” and to introduce 500 buses by December 2009
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