Karachi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the Rs250 billion Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) project that will provide modern electric-powered intra-city metro rail services to the residents of the provincial capital.
Khan was accompanied by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Federal Railways Minister Azam Khan Swati, and Federal Information & Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.
Speaking on the occasion, Khan said the mega development projects like the KCR required political will of the government to complete them in time.
He said that any delay in implementing these projects would also increase their cost and ultimately the project could become financially unfeasible to complete them.
He said that both the federal and Sindh governments were required to pay full attention to the KCR project. Khan reiterated that the federal government had the resolve to undertake the project, hoping that the provincial government would also extend due cooperation.
The length of the KCR project is 43 kilometres with 33 passenger stations within the city. Around 22km track of the project will be elevated. A number of underpasses will also be built to facilitate the movement of the metro rail service. The infrastructure for the project is likely to be completed in next two years.
The metro rail service will run on two different tracks as one of the trains will start its journey from City Railway Station and move within the city on a near-circular railway path to cover a number of important residential, commercial, and industrial localities of the city. The other service will ply between City Station and Dhabeji Station in the suburbs of Karachi. Around 3,00,000 to 500,000 commuters are expected to avail of the KCR service.
