Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali on Thursday presided over a meeting to review arrangements regarding the construction work on Karachi's Yellow Line BRT project. The meeting was attended by Sindh Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, the World Bank delegation and Sindh transport and mass transit department.

During the meeting, Transport Minister briefed the meeting that Yellow Line BRT is 21km project that would start from Dawood Chowrangi and end at Numasih. Under the conceptual plan, Karachi's Yellow Line BRT project with
intersections is 21 km long which includes 17.6 km at grade, and 3.2km underground, and has 28 stations.

The chief minister directed the minister for the construction of a new four-lane one-kilometer-long bridge, adjacent to the existing Jam Sadiq Bridge. In the previous meeting, the provincial government and WB had agreed to repair the Jam Sadiq Bridge that has spent its life and is in a state of dilapidation.

CM Murad also directed the transport department to start the construction work on the project soon by completing all formalities. The Yellow Line BRT covers a distance of 21 kilometres from Dawood Chowrangi to Numaish Chowrangi.

The total cost of the project will be $438.9 million, of which the World Bank will have a share of $381.9 million, the Sindh government will pay $19.5 million.

Under the conceptual plan, eight underpasses will be constructed at Murtaza Chowrangi, Singer Chowrangi, Bilal Chowrangi, Vita Chowrangi, Shaan Chowrangi, Brooks Chowrangi, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Korangi Road intersection, and at the Sunset Boulevard intersection. In addition, the Jam Sadiq Bridge will also be widened.

Karachi Breeze is a 112.9 km (70.2 mi) network of Bus Rapid Transit lines under construction in Karachi. The name was officially given by the Sindh Mass Transit Authority for Karachi's Bus and Mass Rapid Transit system.
However, only two lines, Green Line and Orange Line BRTs have started services in Karachi. The construction work on Red Line BRT and KCR is underway.

Karachi's Green Line BRT project with intersections is 24 km long which includes 12.7 km elevated, 10.9 km at grade, and 422 meters underground, and has 25 stations. The phase-II common corridor from Gurumandir up to
Municipal Park with a length of 2.5 km has two underpasses at M.A Jinnah Road. The state-of-art underground bus terminal with a parking facility and the commercial mezzanine floor was also constructed at Numaish intersection.

The construction work on Phase-I of the project was started in 2016. The project was launched by then Prime Minister Imran Khan in December last yaear The Orange Line corridor is 3.88 kilometres long and provides connectivity from Orangi Town to the Board Office traffic intersection. It has five stations while its depot has the capacity to park 30 buses.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP