After five years and nine deadlines, the people of Karachi are finally getting a new and better transport system. Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the Green Line BRT buses in the city on December 10.
The news was announced by Minister for Planning and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday. “The PM will inshallah inaugurate Karachi’s first modern transport system, greenline BRT, on the 10th of December,” he tweeted.
The PM @ImranKhanPTI will inshallah inaugurate Karachi’s first modern transport system, greenline BRT, on the 10th of December.
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) December 5, 2021
The new system will, hopefully, solve the transport woes of the citizens of Karachi.
Earlier this year, in September, the first consignment of 40 BRT buses reached the Karachi Port from China. The Greenline runs from Numaish to Surjani. Its route is Surjani, New Karachi, KDA Chowrangi, Sakhi Hasan, North Nazimabad and Nazimabad and then Numaish.
All you need to know about the new buses
The 18-meter-long buses have 40 seats and can accommodate 140 people at a time. The imported vehicles are of Euro 3 standards which means that the carbon monoxide emissions from the buses are reduced.
The hybrid vehicles will be run on batteries and diesel. They have a special ramp for people with disabilities and the seats installed in them have dual space.
The government is planning on training 200 men and women to operate the buses, Shah Zaman, the country head of the vehicle company, said.
“To take a ride, passengers will have to option to purchase tickets both on cash or through a card in which payments will be made monthly,” he added.
Bus rapid transit allows buses to rapidly move in a corridor dedicated to them. This strip or corridor is set aside for them in the middle of wide roads. This allows the stream of buses to move up and down without getting ensnared in regular traffic. The rest of the width of the road is used by regular traffic such as cars and motorcycles. But even they can move easily because buses are not stopping in the middle of their corridors. BRT is essentially the separation of different types of traffic so they move smoothly.
A string of delays
The Green Line Bus Rapid Transport System was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017. Since then, the project’s completion deadline has been extended so many times that the citizens would now believe only when they see the first bus plying on the track.
Here’s a timeline of these extensions:
- The project was initially supposed to be completed in April 2017. The date was first revised to April 2018 due to design changes.
- But then the PTI government came into power. It came up with two new deadlines: June 2019 and then December 2019.
- A litany of delays extended the completion date to February and then March 2021. Sindh Governor Imran Ismail announced July 2021 as the date when the citizens will get to travel in Green Line.
- This deadline was extended again to September 2021.
- And in August, Asad Umar gave a new deadline of October.
- Last month, the federal IT minister Amin ul Haq has announced that the project will be inaugurated in November.
from SAMAA https://ift.tt/3ryhcRL
No comments:
Post a Comment