Proposed KCR design changes set to increase cost

[LahoreEstate]

Removal of encroachments from the KCR tracks is said to be one of the major impediments in the implementation of the much-delayed project. –White Star

KARACHI: Some changes are being made to the design of the Karachi Circular Railway by significantly increasing the elevated portion of the tract, hiking the cost of the much-delayed project by more than one third of a billion dollars.

According to sources, roughly 10 per cent of the nearly 50 kilometres of the KCR tracks were to be elevated to negotiate some 22 level crossings under the earlier plans, but now, with the road network being extensively expanded, almost 40 to 50 per cent of the track will be elevated.

They said that between 20 and 25 kilometres of the elevated portion of the dual railway track would pass through densely populated areas including Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Nazimabad, SITE and Baldia.

They added that the cost of the project was earlier estimated at around $872 million, but it was now expected to be somewhere between $1.1 billion and $1.25 billion.

The sources said that a team from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is funding the project, was scheduled to come to the country in the next few weeks to meet the Karachi Urban Transport Company (KUTC) and other top officials of the country in this regard.

The sources said that a Japanese development loan was being given at a highly subsidised rate of 0.2 per cent mark-up for the project. The loan was returnable within 40 years, with an initial 10 year grace period, they added.

The sources said that under the project, air-conditioned trains running at between 45 and 60 kilometres per hour would be operating between 5am and midnight, with a gap of around four minutes between trains. There would be approximately 30 stations, with each stop lasting between 40 seconds and one minute.

They said that some 250 trains powered by electricity, to be obtained from dedicated power generation stations, would be carrying approximately a million passengers a day, with each train having a capacity of approximately 1,700 passengers paying a distance-based fare ranging between Rs7.50 and Rs25. The fares were chosen in order to make the system competitive with the current road-based public transport fares.

The sources said that the 40-kilometre-long Delhi Metro system’s accounts were being used for reference when it came to this project. The Delhi Metro was constructed using a foreign loan of $2.78 billion, which was obtained at a comparatively higher mark-up rate of over 1 per cent.

They said the Delhi system was being used by over 0.6 million commuters every day, and after returning its short-term and long-term loan commitments and all other expenses, it earned a profit of over Rs2.5 billion during the year 2007.

Access to the stations on the KCR would be limited, with commuters only allowed to board trains if they had smart cards or e-tickets, with planners saying this would eliminate the ‘free rider’ problem. All of the tracks would be fenced so that people living along the railway lines were not accidentally run over by the fast-moving trains, said the sources.

At present, a large number of people are killed every year while crossing over unfenced railway tracks — on both sides of which numerous encroachments, katchi abadis and slums have mushroomed in the city.

The sources said that Karachi commuters, who are held hostage to the exploitive transport mafia that is aided by the corrupt and inefficient administration, would switch over to the comparatively quicker KCR trains — which will complete the entire 50-kilometre distance in around 60 to 70 minutes — if the fare structure was prepared realistically and was within the reach of commuters.

They said that Karachi was among the few mega cities which did not have its own railway-based mass transit system and commuters had to travel in buses and minibuses, the majority of which were poorly maintained and harmed the environment with poisonous emissions. They said commuters currently had to endure subhuman conditions, sometimes even sitting on the roofs of buses and vans.

Responding to Dawn’s queries, the KUTC managing director, Ejaz Khilji, said that some changes like enhancing the elevated portion of the track were being incorporated in the initial KCR project, which could enhance the cost slightly and a JICA team had visited the country a few days back. He said another JICA team was scheduled to visit the country in connection with the project in the second

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