KARACHI: The Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System, launched in 2016 by the federal government, is not likely to be completed by June 2019, the date given by Federal Minister for Communication Murad Saeed.

This emerged from a report that said the Sindh government had cancelled the process of procurement of buses for the Green Line project following the decision of the federal government to procure the buses on its own.

However, according to chief of Karachi Infrastructure Development Company (KIDC) Sualeh Farooqui, the procurement of buses for the metro now had been entrusted to the KIDC, which is also responsible for laying the required infrastructure of the project and execution of the federal government schemes in the province.

He said this decision was taken last Monday by Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting with Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah and Sindh government planning chiefWaseem Ahmad and other officers concerned. According to the decision, the federal government had decided not only to procure its buses but hand over the project under a tripartite agreement among the federal government, the Sindh government and its operator after mal(ing the project fully operational as a model scheme.

In reply to a question, Mr Farooqui said that the project is likely to be operational by the end of the year because the manufacturing of the buses would require at least six months as they were built under a specific design.

The Green Line project was initially planned from Surjani Town to Gurumandir, spread over 18 kilometres, with 10km elevated and 8km on ground with 21 stations along its route.

But due to its redesigning and inclusion of 3.5km phase extension from Gurumandir to the Municipal Park, its completion has been delayed.

`Totally funded by federal govt` According to the agreement, the project is solely funded by the federal government without any contribution by the government of Sindh in its infrastructure development. However, the operation, maintenance of buses and installation of its equipment was the responsibility of the govern-ment of Sindh.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, while presiding over the 28th meeting of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Unit Board, was informed by the unit that the board had also approved starting of the Orange Line buses procurement process afresh.

The unit while presenting the Malir Expressway project in the meeting said it was a 50km-long expressway from the Superhighway to Korangi 8000 Road to be constructed on the left bank of the Malir River.

The PPP unit also submitted a proposal for the construction of an interchange on Link Road to give passage to Education City and that seven leading firms had taken part in the bid for the construction of the project. The chief minister directed the PPP unit to evaluate the bid and award the contract purely on merit. `I am keen to see start of the work,` he said.

The PPP unit endorsed the chief minister`s decision to award work and start construction of the project.

Earlier, while speaking at the meeting the chief minister said the PPP unit of Sindh had been recognised by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and ranked 6th in Asia in its report of 2018. `This is the manifestation of our hard work, sincerity and commitment with the people of Sindh.