• City requires at least 15,000 buses, transport dept informs minister
• Provision of soft loans to transporters to meet shortage of buses planned

KARACHI: Only 1,029 public buses or a little over five per cent of the total requirement of 15,000 buses are operating in the city, piling miseries on commuters, the majority of whom relies on rickshaws to reach their destinations.

This was informed during a meeting of interim Finance Minister Muhammad Younus Dagha with the transport department officials on Thursday.

Currently, there is an acute shortage of public transport in the city which once had over 14,000 buses and minibuses for the public. Most of those minibuses have disappeared from the roads, mainly due to hike in petroleum prices and turned into loading mini trucks.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Dagha said that interim provincial government had planned to procure buses on Public-Private Partnership mode or to give easy loans to public transport operators for purchase of new buses to resolve the transport issues of the city which required over 15,000 buses for a comprehensive public transport system.

He said the caretaker government had deliberated upon two proposals to address the issue. “We will procure public buses either on the PPP mode or we will provide easy loans to the local public transport operators to procure buses,” he added.

In response to a question, he said the old and outdated buses plying in the city would be stopped after completion of mass transit projects. “The public transport operators will also be given incentive to replace the dilapidated vehicles with new ones availing easy loan facility.”

He said that the operation of the old and outdated buses could not be suspended abruptly as it would be tantamount to depriving the people engaged in public transport business for their livelihood.

Earlier, the provincial minister was given a detailed briefing by the transport department on different transport projects.

The minister was informed that as per the World Bank report, 15,000 buses were required for a comprehensive public transport system in Karachi.

He was told that at present total 1,029 buses were operating in Karachi in the public and private sector, including 240 buses of People’s Bus Service, 100 buses under BRTs and 690 old buses under private sector, while the feasibility study for the purchase of 500 more buses was underway.

The caretaker minister was informed that a plan to provide easy loans to local private transporters through the establishment of an endowment fund was under consideration by the transport department to bring forward the private sector, and in this context it was also suggested that these loans be provided at the zero markup rate.

It was informed that after consultation with the local transporters of Karachi, a proposal was also under consideration to provide soft loans to local transporters after purchase of buses.

The minister was told that the purchased buses would be in the name of the provincial government till the transporters paid full instalments of the loan of these buses.

The participants agreed that the proposal would enable the local transporters to procure new buses on easy loans with the government’s assistance and continue playing their role in public transport for the city with better services.

Mr Dagha said that the public private partnership projects should be worked out to encourage experienced private transporters in the transport sector.

He directed the transport and mass transit secretary to work out modalities for providing easy loans to the private transport operators for the purchase of buses.

The minister said that consideration should also be given to keep the mark-up rate on loans to the private sector as low as possible for purchase of new buses. “Private transporters can be given soft loans for purchase of buses by setting up an endowment fund,” he added.

He directed the transport department to prepare a workable scheme for provision of soft loans to experienced local transporters for procurement of public transport buses which would be plied on various routes in the city.

The caretaker provincial minister directed that the private sector should be encouraged under public-private partnership projects to fill the huge gap in public transport for the city.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2023