KARACHI: Provincial Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon said Saturday that all BRT projects of Karachi would be completed on war-footing basis to resolve the long standing transportation issue of the cosmopolitan city.
Sindh Mass Transit Authority has been directed to set up camp office at the depot of Abdul Sattar Edhi (Orange Line) and work 24/7 to complete its remaining work by 30 May positively, he said while talking to media on the occasion of his visit to BRT Orange Line today.
He said that officers of Sindh Mass Transit Authority had been directed to bring their suit cases and clothes here at camp office at BRT Depot to monitor the pace of work round the clock. He said he would himself visit the project thrice a week to review its progress. He said that chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, President Asif Ali Zardari and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah had given special instructions to resolve the long standing issue of mass transit of Karachi.
He said that PPP had taken a lot of steps to resolve it and solve the transport situation in our metropolis. Former Provincial Ministers of Transport Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Syed Owais Shah took commendable efforts in this regard, he added.
The information minister said that their leadership had directed to complete the work of years in months and those of months in days, adding that that the Sindh government would provide all possible assistance and full security to the BRT Orange Line contractors. He said that completion of all BRT projects of Karachi is top mission of PPP’s Sindh government, adding that he had held long meeting on BRT projects with Sindh Mass Transit Authority official the other day and today visited the its site to review and witness physical progress of the project.
He also informed that meeting on BRT Red Line had also been convened on coming Wednesday. He informed that Abdul Sattar Edhi (Orange Line) is people’s project as Sindh government is delivering a gift to the city of Karachi in a month time. He said that BRT orange line had been named after Abdul Sattar Edhi, which is about four kilometers long from Orangi Town to Nazimabad Board Office where it will connect to the Green Line.
Its 98 percent work has been completed and this is entirely a project of Sindh government, which is being fully funded by Sindh government with a cost of Rs 4.290 billion, says Mr Memon. He further informed that the project was being implemented by Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited, a federal government-owned company, while NESPAK was serving as a consultant in the project.
He added that 20 buses of Orange Line project are arriving at Karachi port on May 11. After which the necessary operation of the port will be completed in few days to reach BRT depot. He said that one week time period had been fixed for test trials of buses on BRT.
Responding to a question, he said that Imran Khan was in state of mourning adding the person who remained in state of mourning lost its consciousness. He said that mega corruption scandals would surface against Imran Khan and that was why he (Imran) was trying to spread chaos in the country to divert attention of general public.
He said that arrogance nature of Imran Khan caused irreparable damage to country. He said that present coalition government was trying hard to overcome the situation and steer the country out of economic challenges. The information minister advised Imran Khan to apologize nation for his mistakes and mismanagement of country’s affairs and try to correct his mistakes and prepare for next general election.
He said that Imran Khan should not try to become Bal Thakray. He said that Imran Niazi had also threatened and was trying to pressurize Election Commission to take a decision against his party’s 20 deviant members.