KARACHI: Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Law and Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui has said the first batch of 121 buses had been shipped from China for Karachi.

“Happy to share this good news for #Karachi. Out of the 240 new buses, 1st batch of 121 buses has been shipped from China,” Murtaza Wahab tweeted adding that the date got delayed because of Covid surge in China due to which Shanghai port was closed.

Happy to share this good news for #Karachi. Out of the 240 new buses, 1st batch of 121 buses has been shipped from China. The date got delayed because of covid surge due to which Shanghai port was closed #KarachiWorks https://www.bolnews.com/pakistan/2022/04/first-batch-of-121-buses-for-karachi-shipped-from-china-administrator/amp/ pic.twitter.com/oV4oodBIHU

— Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui (@murtazawahab1) April 20, 2022

It has been about 14 years since the Sindh government did not provide a single new bus to the megalopolis. Ships from China’s two ports have left for Karachi with 121 buses.

The Sindh Transport Department said the buses would be run on more than 15 routes in six districts of Karachi under the Intra-City Public Transport Project. The transport department said 240 buses would be run in Karachi and 10 others in Larkana. It said because of the fresh wave of coronavirus and spring festival in China, the first batch of the buses got delayed.

کراچی کیلئے ڈیزل ہائبرڈ بسوں کی پہلی کھیپ چین سے روانہ,

چین کی بندرگاہوسےبحری جہاز 120سےزائد بسیں آج لیکر روانہ ہوگئے,

Advertisement

یہ بسیں انٹراسٹی پبلک ٹرانسپو رٹ منصوبے کے تحت چلائی جائیں گی, @BBhuttoZardari @geonews_urdu @ARYNEWSOFFICIAL @AajKamranKhan @HamidMirPAK pic.twitter.com/bmx2THhpmL

— Syed Awais Shah (@awais_shah01) April 20, 2022

In December 2021, after many hurdles and delays, the much-awaited Karachi’s Green Line Rapid Bus Transit Project had finally became operational.

In the trial phase, the buses had shuttled passengers between Surjani Town and Numaish Chowrangi for four hours — 8am to 12pm — until January 10, 2022. The service had then moved to full-scale services from 6am to 10pm.

In the ‘soft start’, the buses had only shuttled between 11 of the total 21 stops on the route. The ticket price varies between Rs 15 and Rs 55 while the children up to three feet tall can travel in the BRT for free.