The Centre approves a ‘world-class’ KCR for Karachi

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project was approved by the federal government on Wednesday. It will be built in three years at more than Rs200 billion, and it will be a “world-class transportation facility,” the government said.

Imran Khan was under attack from opposition parties when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and its leaders approved the training plan as a big deal. They said it was proof of their commitment to Karachiites and why the city had elected them.

There was a meeting of the National Economic Council’s Executive Committee in Islamabad. Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin was in charge of the meeting. The project was approved.

KCR was approved as a modern urban rail system under a public-private partnership at Rs201.572bn.

After the Central Development Working Party and the Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) Board had agreed on its cost last month, it was changed in a meeting of the Ecnec group, held this week.

Three years of work will cost Rs201.5bn. Ecnec has approved the project.

The project wants to build a 43.225-mile dual-track urban mass transportation system over the next three years. In a statement, the Karachi Circular Railways Management Company (KCRMC) will keep an eye on the project’s progress and maintenance.

The Ecnec also set up a committee led by the finance minister to look at how the federal government pays for viability gap funding (VGF).

Read more with EL news : Private businesses are urged to provide housing loans to their employees

Groundbreaking was done last year.

When Prime Minister Khan visited the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station in September 2021, he began work on the Karachi Cantonment Railway. To rebuild the 44-mile KCR, the new plan calls for three underpasses and a flyover and new rail tracks for electric trains to run on most of the route.

With the start of the KCR and the Green Line bus service in January 2022, the federal government thinks Karachi’s transportation problems will be solved in “one of the best circular rail systems in the world.”

Asad Umar, the federal minister for planning and development, tweeted: “Great news for the people of Karachi.” The ECNEC has approved a new circular rail plan for Karachi. Like cities with modern rail systems, the people of Karachi will get the best and most up-to-date way to get around. The PTI has done its job from Karachi in the best way possible.

Service shut down in 1999.
In 1964, the KCR was built to help workers for Pakistan Railways get to and from their jobs at the City and Cantonment rail stations and their homes in Karachi’s eastern suburbs.

Services that used to be a half-circle turned into a full circle of 44 kilometres in 1970. They connected four main work areas in Karachi: the port and the SITE area, the city’s main commercial areas like Saddar, and the Landhi Industrial Area.

People in Karachi used the KCR to get around until 1984 when the number of trains was cut back.

The reasons for the move were said to be that there was not enough maintenance and repair, there was a massive gap between the cost of fuel and operating costs and the amount of money the government could make from subsidized tickets, and the government couldn’t spend money on improving the tracks and stations.

It took until 1999 for the KCR to be shut down, forcing thousands of people who used it every day to take the road instead.

Keep up with Estate Land Marketing for news and updates.