KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has given 10 days to Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director to work out a plan to construct underground and mezzanine floor for BRT Station at Numaish so that final decision could be made to start the project.He made this decision in a meeting with ADB Country Director, Pakistan Resident Mission Ms. Xiaohong Yang.
The Country Director of ADB for Pakistan along with Head Urban Unit of ADB, Mian Shaukat Shafi and others met him here at the CM House, said a statement on Friday.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Education Jam Mehtab Dahar, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Chairman of P&D Mohammad Waseem,
Principal Secretary to CM Sohial Rajput, Secretary Education Iqbal Durani, Secretary Transport Saeed Awan, Secretary Works Aijaz Memon and other officers concerned.
The projects which came under discussion include Supporting Public Private Partnership Investments in Sindh Province, the Proposed Sindh Education Sector Investment Programme and ongoing and future energy sector projects, and ongoing and future transport projects particular, Sindh Roads and Karachi BRT.
The CM Sindh said that the major objective of BRT is to improve the urban transport system (UTS) of Karachi.
He expressed gratitude to the ADB for providing technical and financial support to implement a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor and strengthening institutions and organizations managing the urban sector.
It may be noted that the project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA) would build on feasibility studies for priority BRT corridors undertaken by JICA for Green and Red Lines and the government for Yellow Line and on advance preparation activities undertaken under ADP Cluster.
The ADB has approved a $ 9.7 million Project Design Advance (PDA) loan for BRT project.
The ADB Country Director suggested the CM Sindh to establish an underground and Mezzanine floor for Station at Numaish and it must be developed a retail area.
The CM Sindh said that it would consume more time to start the project. On this she suggested to involve her engineers and expert team to design and monitor execution of the project.
The CM Sindh gave her 10 days to give him a detailed report containing estimated cost and completion period.
The ADB is working on 21.5 KMs long Red Line BRT starting from Model Colony, airport, University Road, NIPA and Numaish that would be around $ 200 million project.
The CM Sindh also approved establishment of Karachi Bus Rapid Transit Company responsible for operation & maintenance of different Lines.
The ADB and School Education department has identified three areas, including increasing access to secondary education level, improve teachers quality and capacity and introduce examination reforms.
This would involve support for strengthening government’s school education PPP programs such as Education Management Organisations (EMOs) programs and programmes operated by Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) and improving public school infrastructure, including
class rooms, laboratories and missing facilities such as drinking water, toilets and boundary walls. The Teacher Quality, Teacher Management and Accountability for Improved Secondary Education Outcomes (TQTMAISEO) involves support for programmes aimed at improving pre-and in-service teacher training, recruitment and placement; as well as measures to strengthen teacher performance assessment and accountability for education outcomes.
This would involve support for improving the structure and design of secondary education examination system.
The CM Sindh directed Secretary School Education Iqbal Durani to submit concept paper to ADB so that the project could be approved.
The other project came under discussion was Enhancing Public Private Partnership. Chairman of P&D briefing the chief minister said that the projects envisages strengthening the Sindh government capacity to select and develop PPP projects, effectively manage PPP project-related fiscal risk and strengthening of PPP project management capacity of departments concerned.
It is a $184.13 million project in which ADB loan would be 54 percent, DFID grant would be 11 per cent while Sindh government share would be 35 per cent. The CM Sindh approved release of Rs 5 million to start the project.
