Sharif says BRT in Karachi will pave way for improved road transport in Pakistan

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he sees the foundation of the Rs.16 billion Green Line Bus Rapid Transit project is one more step taken forward to improve road surface and rail transport across the length and breadth of Pakistan.

He described the project as an artery that would connect Pakistan's financial capital Karachi to the other four provinces of the country.

Sharif said the Green Line project is extremely necessary to improve the transport system in Karachi and assured that the project will be completed by April 2017 and added that it will be more' beautiful that the Lahore Metro'.

Spread over a 22 kilometre stretch with an elevated track of 11.7km and 7.7km of ground track, the Green Line will have 22 stations along its route, placed at an average distance of 800 metres between each station.

The Green Line was to meet the Blue Line at Gurumandir and then go on to Tower, he said, adding that because work was delayed on the Blue Line, he asked for the Green Line to be extended to the central business district.

The BRT will make life easy for residents of the areas it passes through, Sharif said.

He added that work on the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway has started, while construction of the Hyderabad-Sukkur section of the motorway will be set to start within a month. The Sukkur-Multan and Multan-Lahore sections will also start soon.

Lauding the transparency, efficiency and cost-savings on the project, the premier was hopeful it would be completed by next year, but did not promise a stipulated timeline.

The inauguration ceremony was held at Nazimabad area's Anu Bhai Park on Friday.

Sharif further said that work will start on the Lyari Expressway in March, for which the federal government has already released Rs1.9 billion.

Nawaz lauded the role of law enforcement agencies in securing peace in Karachi and noted that the operation had been launched based on a consensus reached among all the stakeholders and that the operation would continue till it reaches its logical conclusion.