Guidelines for Sustainable Urban Transport under CPEC

Transport-related problems in mega cities of Pakistan have significantly increased in recent decades. Traffic congestion contributes to increased air and noise pollution, health problems, high accident rates, and environmental degradation. It has also meant declining living standards, as to avoid long commutes, people’s livelihood choices have become more limited and this has determined where they live. Long commuting times, congestion, over-loaded and poorly maintained vehicles are the common problems for the urban residents especially in Karachi. The share of public transport in vehicular mode distribution is 4%, however they carry 43% of the total passengers in Karachi and other populated cities of Pakistan. Private cars are 37% of the total vehicular traffic, and carry 22% of the passengers3.

Around the world urban transport is a priority and mass transit projects are launched with an aim of facilitation of commuters. Karachi Circular Railway is the most cited transport project for Karachi. Historically, KCR was operational as an inter-regional public transit system in Karachi in 1960’s and 1970’s. However, it was later abandoned due to the poor infrastructure and inability to provide mobility to the residents of Karachi. The proposed revival of KCR will make it operational from Karachi City Station on I.I. Chundrigar Road and the network will be extended to Gadap in the north, Dhabeji in the east, Kiamari in south, and Hub in the west of Karachi. Karachi, despite being a major metropolitan city of Pakistan, faces severe mobility issues, as no public transit is available. Commuters have to rely on local modes of transport. This results in longer and expensive commutes, resulting in lower public utility.