ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Monday set deadlines to put into operation two mega transport projects in Karachi — the Rs300 billion Karachi Circular Railway and Rs25bn Green Line Bus Rapid Transport — later this year.
The ministry in a statement said that the deadline for signing of first package (A) of the Integrated Transport System (ITS) contract has been set as March 26, followed by package B contract signing on April 2. The deadline for award of operational and maintenance contract for the project would be given by May this year.
While presiding over a meeting of all the stakeholders — Ministry of Railways, Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL) and Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) — the minister confirmed that the prototype buses would be ready for testing and commissioning by April 25.
While reviewing the KCR Freight Corridor project, the minister directed the Ministry of Railways, SIDCL, and P3A to finalise the Tripartite Agreement to determine the scope of work reflecting the role of each party in the mutually agreed projects to be initiated in Public Private Partnership/Build-Operate and Transfer modes.