Sharjeel says electric taxi service in Karachi soon

KARACHI: Sindh Minister Information, Transport and Mass Transit Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Sunday announced that very soon a modern, affordable and environment-friendly electric taxi service will be launched from Karachi which will be extended to other major cities of the province.

The minister made this announcement while talking to media after inspecting under construction Bus Rapid Transport Red Line project launched with the cooperation of Asian Development Bank. He said that negotiations were underway on electric taxi service project and Sindh government was working seriously to finalize it soon.

He said: “The existing online taxi services in city are charging very high fares. Sindh government is endeavouring to provide affordable taxi service to the citizens.” Mr Memon said that the leadership of Pakistan People’s Party had directed to expedite pace of work on all the ongoing public transport projects in Karachi so as to address the long-standing transport issue of the city.

He added that public transport projects with investment of billions of rupees had been launched in the city. Sindh Mass Transit Authority is working day and night to increase the number of buses in the city and improve the transport infrastructure, he added. The minister said that the work on 22km BRT Red Line is in process at rapid pace. It starts from Malir Halt and passes through University Road before its integration with green line at Numaish Chowrangi.

He said that BRT Red Line launched with the assistance of ADB and it is Pakistan’s first project, which will be run on biogas. In this regard, the construction of Pakistan’s first biogas plant will be started soon. He said that Sindh had the honor of having started the first electric bus service in Pakistan in the field of public transport and now the work on BRT red line running on eco-friendly biogas is in progress.

He said that Sindh Government Transport Department had started Orange Line and People’s Bus Service. Soon electric bus service will also starts its formal operations in the city. The transport minister said that the work on the BRT Yellow Line project with the support of the World Bank is in the final stages, the construction of which will also commence soon. He said that all major cities of the world had modern public transport system including BRT service.

The minister added that Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is a very old project. With the efforts of Chief Minister Sindh, project has been included in the CPEC projects. In response to a question, he said that all federal institutions, including the Malir Cantonment Board, had taken ownership of the BRT Red Line project and were extending full support in the construction of project.