From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has directed the provincial transport department to finalise paperwork for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project for the forthcoming China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related joint working group (JWG) meeting.
He issued the directives while reviewing different projects of the transport department in a meeting at the CM House on Thursday.
The transport secretary briefed the CM that the feasibility study of the KCR project had been completed. The financing agency of the KCR would be CPEC and the project’s implementation, execution and operations would be carried out by the Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC).
The meeting was told that the KCR was discussed between Pakistani authorities and a Chinese delegation at the 10th JWG forum in September to finalise the updated feasibility study of the project submitted to the China Railway Authority.
He was told the federal government had asked the Sindh government to update/revise the KCR Framework Agreement.
Justice Baqar directed the transport department to finalise the framework agreement within the next three days and report to him.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) last year in November approved Rs292.4 billion funds for the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project with a foreign share of Rs263 billion.
The project envisages the construction of 44-kilometre-long and dedicated track of modern urban Railway in Karachi starting from Drigh road, passing through areas including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Federal B area, Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, SITE, and Liyari, according to the state news agency.
