KARACHI   -    Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Monday that BRT Red Line issues would be resolved on top priority basis so that work on the corridor started last month could be completed in time.  This he said while presiding over a meeting of Asian Development Bank (ADB) technical delegation led by Gia Heeyong. The other delegation members were Senior Urban Transport Specialist Lloyd Wright, Director Urban Transport Mr David Margonztern, and Senior Project Officer Umar Ali Shah. Minister Transport Sharjeel Memon, Chairman P&D Hassan Naqvi, Secretary Finance Sajid Jamal Abro, Secretary Transport Haleem Shaikh also attended the meeting.  Over 26 kilometers long BRT Red Line project launched with the assistance of ADB has a track from Model Colony, Malir to Merewether Tower via University Road, MA Jinnah Extension Road, Numaish Chowrangi, and MA Jinnah Road. The delegation told the chief minister that there were some issues in the project such as establishment of Depot and reserving the land for installation of a biogas plant at Bhains Colony. At this, the CM said that a 32 acres land had already been reserved for the plant but its title had to be changed for which he had issued necessary directives.  Talking about the depot of the Red Line buses, Mr Shah said that it would be vacated with the start of the work on the depots. The CM urged the ADB delegation to assist and support the integration of BRT Red Line with other BRTs such as Green Line, Orange Line, Yellow Line. At this, the delegation agreed to support the provincial government.  Earlier, the ADB delegation had held a meeting with provincial transport minister Sharjeel Inam Memon at his office to remove all the bottlenecks of the project.

CM meets with diplomats

Earlier, Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah met Ambassador of Norway Mr Per Albert Ilsaas at CM House and discussed the investment opportunities in the province. A Norwegian company was already working at Sukkur and Khairpur to install solar power plants of 150 MW. The plant was supposed to be inaugurated next year. The chief minister invited Norwegian companies to come over and work with the provincial government in the development of the dairy industry.  In another meeting, the chief minister discussed different projects in health, education and transport sectors with Turkish Consul General Mr Cemal Sangu here at CM House. The chief minister directed the provincial investment department to coordinate with both the countries-- Norway and Turkey diplomats for bringing in investment.