Rs273bn cleared for Karachi Circular Railway

[hydrabadi_arab]

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday cleared a total of three development projects with a cumulative estimated cost of about Rs280 billion, including the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

The meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jahanzeb Khan finalised at Rs273.071bn the cost of KCR as a modern urban railway project and requested the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) to approve its implementation in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode on a build-operate-transfer basis.

A meeting of the board of Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) presided over by Planning Minister Asad Umar on Jan 25 had asked the Railways Division and the Planning Commission to finalise the cost estimates and submit them to the CDWP for scrutiny and subsequent approval by the Ecnec.

An official statement said the 43-km dual track of the Urban Rail Mass Transit System will be constructed in a period of three years on a PPP basis. The main objective of the project is to provide reliable, safe and eco-friendly public transport to the metropolitan city of Karachi.

The project is expected to serve a daily ridership of 457,000 which is expected to increase to one million a day by the end of the 33-year concession period. It will deploy the use of electric trains and will be operational round the week. The project involves 30 stations along the corridor covering the most densely populated areas of Karachi.

As per the route alignment, KCR commences from the existing Karachi city station, moves along the mainline of PR on Drigh Road Station. It further goes across Shahrah-e-Faisal and enters into Gulistan-e-Johar, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. After passing through the older residential areas of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad leads to the SITE area and further to the Port, then reaches back to Karachi City Station.

Under the transaction structure approved by the board of P3A, the private sector will finance, develop and run the project on commercial lines. The transaction structure proposed by the consultants/transaction advisers envisaged about Rs533bn government subsidy over the 33-year project life for electricity and major operation and maintenance costs which were rejected by the board. The project cost was initially estimated at about Rs201bn but has gone up because of delays and viability gap financing.

The federal government would finance 40pc of the revised cost of the project that would work out at about Rs80-90bn and provide this financing to the concessionaire at the outset (first three years) to help operationalise the project.

On the issue of 40pc (Rs80-90bn) government cost-sharing, the P3A board decided that the railway board would be asked to lease out for 99 years 13 properties en route the KCR project to meet the initial financing since the profit would ultimately flow to Pakistan Railways. Alternatively, in case of the railway board’s disagreement, the federal government would provide the funding out of Public Sector Development Programme but then the return on that funding would be directed to the federal government instead of Railways.

The CDWP also approved Gujranwala Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy (Phase-II) with a revised cost of Rs3.280bn and a project of Social Health Protection Initiatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government at a cost of Rs3.366bn.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022

Rs273bn cleared for Karachi Circular Railway

The 43-km dual track of the Urban Rail Mass Transit System will be constructed in a period of three years on a PPP basis.

www.dawn.com

 

[S.Y.A]

ISLAMABAD: The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday cleared a total of three development projects with a cumulative estimated cost of about Rs280 billion, including the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

The meeting presided over by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Jahanzeb Khan finalised at Rs273.071bn the cost of KCR as a modern urban railway project and requested the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) to approve its implementation in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode on a build-operate-transfer basis.

A meeting of the board of Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) presided over by Planning Minister Asad Umar on Jan 25 had asked the Railways Division and the Planning Commission to finalise the cost estimates and submit them to the CDWP for scrutiny and subsequent approval by the Ecnec.

An official statement said the 43-km dual track of the Urban Rail Mass Transit System will be constructed in a period of three years on a PPP basis. The main objective of the project is to provide reliable, safe and eco-friendly public transport to the metropolitan city of Karachi.

The project is expected to serve a daily ridership of 457,000 which is expected to increase to one million a day by the end of the 33-year concession period. It will deploy the use of electric trains and will be operational round the week. The project involves 30 stations along the corridor covering the most densely populated areas of Karachi.

As per the route alignment, KCR commences from the existing Karachi city station, moves along the mainline of PR on Drigh Road Station. It further goes across Shahrah-e-Faisal and enters into Gulistan-e-Johar, and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. After passing through the older residential areas of North Nazimabad, Nazimabad leads to the SITE area and further to the Port, then reaches back to Karachi City Station.

Under the transaction structure approved by the board of P3A, the private sector will finance, develop and run the project on commercial lines. The transaction structure proposed by the consultants/transaction advisers envisaged about Rs533bn government subsidy over the 33-year project life for electricity and major operation and maintenance costs which were rejected by the board. The project cost was initially estimated at about Rs201bn but has gone up because of delays and viability gap financing.

The federal government would finance 40pc of the revised cost of the project that would work out at about Rs80-90bn and provide this financing to the concessionaire at the outset (first three years) to help operationalise the project.

On the issue of 40pc (Rs80-90bn) government cost-sharing, the P3A board decided that the railway board would be asked to lease out for 99 years 13 properties en route the KCR project to meet the initial financing since the profit would ultimately flow to Pakistan Railways. Alternatively, in case of the railway board’s disagreement, the federal government would provide the funding out of Public Sector Development Programme but then the return on that funding would be directed to the federal government instead of Railways.

The CDWP also approved Gujranwala Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy (Phase-II) with a revised cost of Rs3.280bn and a project of Social Health Protection Initiatives of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government at a cost of Rs3.366bn.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022

Rs273bn cleared for Karachi Circular Railway

The 43-km dual track of the Urban Rail Mass Transit System will be constructed in a period of three years on a PPP basis.

www.dawn.com

why will it run on railway's lines and use railway stations? this will put additional pressure on an already over utilized railway line. it should make use of new raised platforms and rails just like lahore metro.

 

[ziaulislam]

This wont work
The consultancy report was rejected

The project need the 500b in 33 year subsidy to work out

Its isnt that much looking at inflation and electicitiy prices etc

Look at metro lahore & lahore rail project
It has 5-6 subsidy

 

[satyamev]

As a rail fan, its exciting to see the subcontinent finally improving its intra and inter city rail infrastructure to the 21st century level.
Pakistan should involve the Indian railway in upgrading its networks as we share pretty common issues.
Also India now has atleast 4 very modern metro coaches manufacturing units , which can supply modern coaches at competitive rates.
I was seeing the Chinese supplied coaches to the new Lahore metro and it looks dated as compared to the Indian coaches. Frankly even the few coaches China has supplied to Indian metros under competitive bidding, look better than the Lahore ones.

 

[Enigma SIG]

it should make use of new raised platforms and rails just like lahore metro.

i don't know what you mean by raised but NO!
do this instead:

elevated platforms are just a sinkhole for contractor payments.

 

[S.Y.A]

View attachment 814480

i don't know what you mean by raised but NO!
do this instead:
View attachment 814482

elevated platforms are just a sinkhole for contractor payments.

I am assuming you are a karachiite? where will all that space come from in karachi to run them on land? raised/elevated rail is the way to go. will save space and will not put burden on already congested roads and streets or the pak railways infra. contractor sinkhole or not, this is the way to go.

something like this:

or this:

 

[Enigma SIG]

I am assuming you are a karachiite? where will all that space come from in karachi to run them on land? raised/elevated rail is the way to go. will save space and will not put burden on already congested roads and streets or the pak railways infra. contractor sinkhole or not, this is the way to go.

something like this:
View attachment 814487

or this:
View attachment 814486

I'm from Lahore and the whole thing is an eyesore.

Cities all over the world are reclaiming space from unneeded structures by removal of bridges and old infrastructure yet here we are in 2022 in Pakistan.

You can fix congestion by first building an alternative, and then charging a congestion tax, or high parking fees for private / commercial cars just like London does in zones Give people a reason to use the public transport. I never felt the need for a car during my years in the UK. Travelled exclusively by public transport or using my 2 legs.

 

[arjunk]

i don't know what you mean by raised but NO!

There is barely space for a raised platform let alone a regular one.

 

[S.Y.A]

You can fix congestion by first building an alternative, and then charging a congestion tax, or high parking fees for private / commercial cars just like London does in zones Give people a reason to use the public transport. I never felt the need for a car during my years in the UK. Travelled exclusively by public transport or using my 2 legs.

applying the method shown in the pic posted above can easily solve the issue of congestion, requires limited space, and yet is strong enough to carry a train. as for london, there are two things to consider:
1. well connected, cheap, good quality, on time public transport, which sadly, isnt even available in islamabd let alone karachi.
2. high taxes are just a money making scheme by govts, they could have easily installed automatic car parks and charged a parking fee.

The transaction structure proposed by the consultants/transaction advisers envisaged about Rs533bn government subsidy over the 33-year project life for electricity and major operation and maintenance costs which were rejected by the board.

why was it rejected? saddar market alone pays 77 billion pkr annually in income tax, and yet the govt only wants to grab money from the city but doesnt want to return anything to it (btw the quoted figure does not include taxes by companies, banks or custom duties, its the tax collected from local shops, in before people come and start screaming about karachi paying more taxes due to being a port)?

Cities all over the world are reclaiming space from unneeded structures by removal of bridges and old infrastructure yet here we are in 2022 in Pakistan.

cities all over the world get a share from the revenue collected from them, and cities all over the world and free to make their own decisions, which isnt the case in pakistan, here, cities are run by provincial govts.

 

[Basel]

why will it run on railway's lines and use railway stations? this will put additional pressure on an already over utilized railway line. it should make use of new raised platforms and rails just like lahore metro.

It's local railroad system not Intercity railway system.

 

[S.Y.A]

It's local railroad system not Intercity railway system.

i doubt this. there are no other railway lines on shahrah e faisal. at least between the port and landhi, same line is used by everyone.

 

[Cryptic_Mafia]

fauji proected zardari govt will make some hood money!! contractor fwo!

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

why was it rejected? saddar market alone pays 77 billion pkr annually in income tax, and yet the govt only wants to grab money from the city but doesnt want to return anything to it (btw the quoted figure does not include taxes by companies, banks or custom duties, its the tax collected from local shops, in before people come and start screaming about karachi paying more taxes due to being a port)?

What you are talking about is income tax paid by individuals. Not market or shops.

"Saddar has 72,339 tax filers, who collectively paid Rs77.2 billion in taxes for the fiscal year ended in June, 2018.

After Karachi’s Saddar, Islamabad’s Blue Area paid the highest amount in taxes at Rs40 billion with the total number of filers standing at 5,854."

https://www.samaaenglish.tv/money/2020/09/karachi-saddar-market-highest-tax-paying/

 

[S.Y.A]

What you are talking about is income tax paid by individuals. Not market or shops.

"Saddar has 72,339 tax filers, who collectively paid Rs77.2 billion in taxes for the fiscal year ended in June, 2018.

After Karachi’s Saddar, Islamabad’s Blue Area paid the highest amount in taxes at Rs40 billion with the total number of filers standing at 5,854."

https://www.samaaenglish.tv/money/2020/09/karachi-saddar-market-highest-tax-paying/

individuals = shops bro. saddar is a commercial area, not residential.

What you are talking about is income tax paid by individuals. Not market or shops.

"Saddar has 72,339 tax filers, who collectively paid Rs77.2 billion in taxes for the fiscal year ended in June, 2018.

After Karachi’s Saddar, Islamabad’s Blue Area paid the highest amount in taxes at Rs40 billion with the total number of filers standing at 5,854."

https://www.samaaenglish.tv/money/2020/09/karachi-saddar-market-highest-tax-paying/

in any case, the point is that the tax paid by the city is not being spent on it. it is instead being wasted in providing land cruisers and bungalows to sarkari babus and ministers of provincial and federal govts.

 

[peagle]

As a rail fan, its exciting to see the subcontinent finally improving its intra and inter city rail infrastructure to the 21st century level.
Pakistan should involve the Indian railway in upgrading its networks as we share pretty common issues.
Also India now has atleast 4 very modern metro coaches manufacturing units , which can supply modern coaches at competitive rates.
I was seeing the Chinese supplied coaches to the new Lahore metro and it looks dated as compared to the Indian coaches. Frankly even the few coaches China has supplied to Indian metros under competitive bidding, look better than the Lahore ones.

Yes, we all know India is a soupapowa,
India invented planes and plastic surgery thousand of years ago.