Karachi faces shortage of 1500 public buses: WB report
Muhammad Younus Dagha, the caretaker minister for finance, planning, and development, was informed on the transportation issues in Karachi by representatives of the Sindh government’s transport division.
Only 1029 of the 15,000 buses needed for Karachi’s complete transportation system—240 vehicles run by the People’s Bus Service, 100 buses for BRT, and 689 older buses run by the private sector—are now in operation on municipal roads.
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The World Bank estimated that Karachi will require an additional 13000 public transport vehicles to close the gap.
Temporary provincial minister Mohammad Younus Dagha gave instructions to stimulate the private sector through strategies like public-private partnerships in order to overcome the severe public transportation shortage in Karachi.
The interim minister was made aware that the department of transportation was thinking of setting up an endowment fund to offer low-interest loans to local commercial carriers.
It was disclosed at the briefing that a strategy to provide the local carriers with soft loans after the purchase of buses was also under discussion after meeting with the local transporters in Karachi.
The purchased buses will remain the property of the Sindh government until all loan payments have been made by the carriers.
A little over 1,000 passenger buses are now in service in the port city, Pakistan’s largest metropolis, according to a World Bank report.
Muhammad Younus Dagha, the caretaker minister for finance, planning, and development, was informed on the transportation issues in Karachi by representatives of the Sindh government’s transport division.
Only 1029 of the 15,000 buses needed for Karachi’s complete transportation system—240 vehicles run by the People’s Bus Service, 100 buses for BRT, and 689 older buses run by the private sector—are now in operation on municipal roads.
