40 Chinese electric buses reach Karachi

Gwadar Pro

Karachi: The first batch of 40 Chinese electric buses for the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has reached Karachi.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail inspected the buses at Karachi port during a special ceremony in connection with the arrival of the vehicles.

Federal Planning Minister Asad Umar, Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi and Information Technology Minister Ameenul Haq also attended the ceremony.

Pakistan will receive the second consignment of 40 more buses in October this year.

Earlier, Planning Minister Asad Umar had announced that the Green Line project will be made operational by November.

The project was launched by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in February 2016 and it was originally expected to be completed in one year to facilitate commuters in Pakistan’s financial hub.

Initially, the cost of project had been estimated at Pakistani Rs16.85 billion.

Later, the project was extended by another 10 kilometers and the estimated cost crossed the figure of Rs 24 billion.

Karachi’s Green Line BRT project includes 12.7 km elevated and 10.9 km at grade, and 422 meters underground, and has 25 stations.

Recently, Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Qadir Shah inaugurated electric buses in the mega city.

He announced that electric buses in the city would initially operate from Karachi Tower to Sohrab Goth and the fare would Rs 4 per kilometer.

The minister said that transport was a big issue for the people of Karachi and the government was contemplating introducing electric buses in the megacity.