The Sindh government would bear a portion of the entire local cost of the Karachi Circular Railway project, with no federal assistance granted.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) considered the KCR project on October 25, 2022, and recommended to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) that the project be sponsored by the government of Sindh and that the provincial government bears all of the local shares of the total cost, with no funding provided by the federal government, as proposed in the PC-I.
Last month, the ECNEC meeting presided over by the Minister of Finance approved the project, which would be implemented over four years, from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2027.
The entire cost of the project in PC-I was projected to be Rs 292 billion to Rs 263 billion for the CPEC foreign exchange component and Rs 29 billion for the local component.
As per the sources, the following recommendations were made:
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The project is financed by the Government of Sindh, and the provincial government will bear the entire local portion of the overall cost; no federal financing will be supplied, as proposed in PC-I.
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A committee will rationalize the project’s expense.
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The dispute regarding land ownership will be fixed by the Sindh government and the Ministry of Railways through mutual discussion within three days, and the provincial government will provide a certificate regarding the readiness and availability of land prior to the submission of the Summary to ECNEC.
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The ownership of the KUTC company would also be settled by mutual consultation between the Sindh government and the Ministry of Railways within three days.
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The earlier PC-I of the KCR project, financed by the Ministry of Railways and approved by the ECNEC on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, will be returned to the sponsors.
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As the sponsoring agency is currently the provincial government, the PC-I of the KCR project, namely the construction of flyovers/underpasses for the elimination of 22 Level crossings from the KCR loop from Drigh Road to Karachi City Station approved at a cost of Rs 20.715 billion sponsored by the Ministry of Railways, will now be executed by the provincial government as the cost is included in the total cost of the instant PC-1.