KARACHI: Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) would help minimise the commuters’ woes in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, said the speakers and experts, while addressing a consultative session of PAKSTRAN – Pakistan Sustainable Transport project – undertaken by the UNDP.
PAKSTRAN National Project Chairman Dr Saleem Janjua said that PAKSTRAN project is an initiative of UNDP with government counterparts that has actively shown progress in providing technical assistance to the government in augmentation of BRT/metro bus by way of capacity building, awareness and technical studies.
Dr Saleem acknowledged the efforts of PAKSTRAN and showed satisfaction over the role of the transportation department in its effort. He further stated that it is incident that transport sector is changing rapidly, therefore, clear and defined vision for the urban areas is required that defines formulation associated reforms, achievable program and investment framework. He told the participants that we need to make our country a good place to do business, we need to make sustainable transport infrastructure. He further said, because of these all reasons this national implemented project (NIM) has been launched in collaboration with Government of Pakistan and the provincial governments of Sindh and Punjab.
Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Component Manager Yar Muhammad said that the Bus Rapid Transport was being introduced in 2016 positively, considering it as the best solution to the problems of transport in Karachi. The Sindh government is working on four priority corridors, which are: BRT Blue Line, BRT Yellow Line BRT Orange Line and BRT Red Line.
To improve the public transport system in Karachi, the BRT is the best system on the project corridors considering the cost-efficiency and available resources. The maximum capacity of a standard BRT is approximately 13,000 (52,000 in four lines) passengers per hour per direction. The BRT makes reference to the transportation networking considering connection with other modes and possibility of transit from private car.
