KARACHI (October 07 2009): The Sindh government has opposed bringing of at least 2,000 environment-friendly CNG buses only into the city, Business Recorder learnt on Tuesday. According to sources, Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) would provide a loan while the Federal Environment Ministry would provide the remaining funds to bring at least 2,000 environment-friendly CNG buses for all districts of Sindh province, which would ply on various routes of the province on public-private partnership.
The Centre has tasked the Jica to undertake the study after which the CNG buses would be imported from Japan. A preliminary meeting with Jica representative, Nobuhiro Kawatani, was held in Islamabad on September 15, 2009, they added. They said that Jica Mission had visited Karachi and held a meeting on October 5with the representatives of Sindh government and the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) for conducting preparatory survey.
The CDGK demanded to name the project as Karachi Urban Transport Master Plan. However, the Jica Mission did not agree, saying that the title should remain 'Preparatory Survey', which was later finalised as Karachi Transportation Improvement Project, they said.They said that Jica would submit the study report within 20 months after the award of work in order to main the quality and correctness of the report.
The study would include persons per trip, future traffic demand, roadside interview of citizens, transport related institution such as District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA), travel speed, Karachi Urban Transport Master Plan 2030, environment impact, estimate capital cost for Rapid Mass Transit Project, etc.Jica Mission stated that they would not select the consultant until PC-II is approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).
They said that Sindh Transport Department had been sidelined in this project and it was made only for city, which the Sindh government would not accept at any cost. In the meeting on October 5, 2009, the transport department officials opposed the idea to run all these buses in Karachi alone, depriving other districts of the province from this travel facility.Moreover, a letter No SO (V) JICA/2009 was forwarded to the Additional Chief Secretary (Development) by the transport department, which stated that, "all the transport related projects come under the scope of Transport Department, Government of Sindh but no role has been provided to Transport Department under the draft.
It is therefore, proposed that Transport Department may be given due role for the project".It says Transport Department should be made as a counterpart agency and as a co-ordinating body for implementation of the study. It further proposed that the study should not be confined to Karachi city only and it should cover entire province and may be titled as Sindh Transportation Infrastructure Improvement Project. Sources said that the federal government should focus the entire province and not a single city, adding that the Sindh government should be handed over these buses that would be plied in all 23 districts of the province under direct supervision of provincial government
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