KARACHI: The Japanese are no longer looking after the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR). The service which shutdown in December 1999 has now become part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
After its addition in CPEC this December, the Joint Cooperation Committee has asked the transport department to submit their report within three months after the signing of its agreement.
The KCR was commissioned in 1964 and remained an effective mass transportation system till 1984. Later the operational efficiency kept deteriorating—resulting in the loss of passengers and eventual closure after 15 years.
KCR has a 43.12 kilometers long track- 23 kilometers will be elevated, and its jurisdiction is spread over 360 acres. When functional, KCR will have 24 stations, each 1.5 km away from the other. Trains will be kicking off their journey from city railway station till Nipa and one complete round will take 66 minutes. Each day it will cater to 0.7 million passengers.
Successive governments have been striving to revive the dead project. But it needs more money than the city’s yearly budget.
Back in 2009, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) showed its interest in this project which would have cost them almost $2609.32 million but years later their interest was overshadowed due to the hurdles in the project mainly encroachment on the mainline.
Talking to Geo News Director General Mass Transit Cell, Muhammed Ather said, “We fulfilled all the 46 conditions of JICA officials which included tax exemptions and removal of encroachments from the mainline and side rows”, he further revealed, “everything was on the verge of start but later on their interest overshadowed, as they were offering 85 percent of the capital for 40 years of soft loan, they might have found something better in the energy sector”.
