KARACHI: Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday formally inaugurated Sindh Intra-District People’s Bus Service project in Karachi.
Bilawal Bhutto was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, and other members of the provincial cabinet.
According to Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA), the minimum and maximum passenger fares of the new air-conditioned bus service would be Rs25 and Rs55 respectively. Initially, the buses will operate on Route (R1) from Model Colony to Merewether Tower via Sharea Faisal and II Chundrigar Road. The SMTA has allocated 25 buses for the route No 1.
Around 240 air-conditioned will be plied on seven routes in Karachi as part of the intra-district bus project.
The other six routes include the areas from North Karachi to Indus Hospital (Korangi) distance 32.9km; Nagan Chowrangi to Singer Chowrangi (Korangi Industrial Area) 33km; North Karachi to Dockyard 30.4km; Surjani Town to PAF Masroor 28.2km; Gulshan-i-Bihar (Orangi Town) to Singer Chowrangi 29km and Mosamiyat to Baldia Town 28.9km.
According to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority, the buses will facilitate 31 passengers including two seats for the disabled, while there is space for up to 80 passengers.
Under the same project, the provincial government has also chalked out a plan to run these buses in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad as well.
The Sindh government has earmarked Rs4 billion in the next financial year budget 2022-23 for procuring more buses to be run in Karachi and other cities under its Sindh Peoples Intra-district Bus Project, commonly known as Peoples Bus Service.
In his budget speech at the Sindh Assembly, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had said that during outgoing financial year 2021-22, the Sindh government had spent Rs6.4bn for procurement of 250 buses. “For next financial year, Rs4 billion has been earmarked for the same purpose,” he said. –Agencies
