Karachi city is bigger than 85 member countries of the UN,
spread over hundreds of square kilometers and has a population touching 25
million. One of its biggest problem is lack of an efficient and quality public
transport system. This has resulted in exceptionally large number of cars and motorcycles
plying on the roads. This on one hand costs the country billions of dollars
spent on import of fuel and causes worst traffic jams. The added problems are
waste of hours of commuters, burning of extra fuel and emission of huge
quantity of toxic fumes. This demands complete revamping of public transport,
which is not possible without investing millions of dollars.
While Punjab government headed by PML-N is spending billions
of rupees annually, Sindh government headed by PPP seems least concerned about
providing a decent public transport for the people of Karachi which contributes
lion’s share to the national exchequer. In the past some efforts were made by
the City District Government by introducing CNG driven buses. While the number
of vehicles were to be increased with the passage of time, the contrary has happened.
Even the number of ages-old buses has declined. The situation at present is
that people have buy cars and motorcycles on cash, as hardly any financing
facility is available.
This blog is aimed at attracting attention of overseas
investors, particularly from Japan which has the largest investment in
automobile assembly business in Pakistan. JICA is financing various projects in
Pakistan and it needs to be convinced that sale of Japanese brands will improve
earnings of the sponsors of these companies. It is believed that JICA is
exploring the possibility of reviving ‘Circular Railway’, which is like a
futile effort to make a dead man walk.
Karachi needs nearly 3,000 long chassis buses that can carry
minimum 100 passengers at a time. A consortium can be formed that can also
mobilize funds from local stock market by listing a public limited company. In
the first phase 250 buses may be inducted and then 100 buses per month. The
consortium can comprises of buss, tyre and battery manufacturers besides some
financial institutions.