Sindh government may not be able to launch its urban transport scheme ‘Yellow Line’ in time as the Chinese partner of the government is faced with problems in arranging money for the project. Syed Nasir Shah, Sindh Transport Minister reportedly said they could re-tender the project if the company failed to mobilize funds in next three months. “It doesn’t look possible to launch it as per schedule but we have made it clear to the company that we can only give margin of another two to three months and if they still remain unable, we would re-tender the project,” said Mr. Shah. The Sindh government was preparing to launch “Red Line” of the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) in August but issues with Yellow Line might affect it too.Yellow Line project starts from Landhi to New M.A. Jinnah road covering around 26 kilometers and is to be built with an estimated cost of Rs14.4 billion. As many as 104 new buses would be put on the route. Nasir Shah vowed that the provincial government was determined to initiate the project this year and if its Chinese partner remained unable to meet the terms of the contract, it would re-launch the project “with someone else”. The Sindh government signed the agreement with the China Urban Elected Company in September 2016 for Yellow Line. As per deal, the government would share 14 per cent of the total cost and the Chinese company 16 per cent while 70 per cent would be generated by a loan from financial institutions. Disappointments as regards Yellow Line have not affected vows for Red Line which the officials claim would be launched in July. Funded by the Asian development Bank (ADB), it starts from Malir Cantt to Regal Chowk via Safoora Goth and University Road. The 27-km-long Red Line — another BRT project — would be built with an estimated cost of $184.23 million, or roughly Rs19bn. The project cost would be shared by the ADB (52pc), DFID-UK (12.62pc) and the Sindh government (34.42pc).
