Sindh CM wants Orange Line bus service operational in Karachi by June

Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has asked the Karachi Mass Transit Authority to make the Orange Line section of Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) operational by next month.

The Orange Line will be the second service of the modern mass transit system to be launched in Karachi. In December last year, then Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the Green Line bus service as the first-ever modern mass transit service in the city.

While chairing a meeting, the CM told the relevant officials that the civil works related to the construction of the corridor of the Orange Line service should be completed by end of May.

Shah said the Orange Line should become operational by the first week of June adding that he will not accept any excuse for any further delays. He said his government had already released the remaining amount of Rs2 billion for completion of the project.

The CM was briefed on the occasion that up to 95 per cent of work to construct the 3.8km corridor of the Orange Line had been completed.

The Orange Line will provide connectivity from the deprived Orangi Town area of the city to Nazimabad. It will connect with the Green Line service already operational in the city.

Newly appointed Sindh Transport Minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, said the Orange Line corridor would be made operational with the import of 20 buses through the federally-run Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd. The buses will shortly reach Karachi Port. Afterward, the trial bus service will be launched in a week.

He said the Sindh government had been solely building the Orange Line section of BRTS with the total cost of Rs4.290 billion. The Orange Line service has been named after late noble social worker from Karachi, Abdul Sattar Edhi.