Pakistan: Karachi Bus Rapid Transit Red Line Project

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Project is to provide an efficient and sustainable public transport system in Karachi by delivering the city’s Red Line BRT corridor.

DESCRIPTION

The Project will improve the public transport system in Karachi through efficient and safe connectivity and reduced journey times, and provide high-quality, accessible and affordable mass transport. The planned activities under the proposed Project are (1) delivering (i) the 24.2-kilometer (km) Red Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) main corridor, (ii) a 2.4-km section of the common corridor along with all BRT lines merged in the city center and (iii) off-corridor direct and feeder service routes connecting the corridor to communities; and (2) establishment of BRT operations, including procurement of compressed natural gas-hybrid fleet and systems.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION

AIIB has agreed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) that: (a) ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS, 2009) and related procedures of ADB will apply to the Project and (b) AIIB will rely on ADB’s determination as to whether compliance with those policies and procedures have been achieved under the Project. AIIB is satisfied that: (i) the SPS is consistent with AIIB’s Articles of Agreement and materially consistent with the provisions of AIIB’s Environmental and Social Policy (ESP); and (ii) the monitoring procedures that ADB has in place to ascertain compliance with its SPS are appropriate for the Project.

Under ADB’s Safeguard Policy, this Project has been classified as Category A for environment and involuntary resettlement. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) accompanied by an Environmental Management Plan (EMP), a Resettlement Plan (RP) and a Gender Action Plan (GAP) have been developed for the 24.2-km main corridor, bus stations and two depots. A Supplementary EIA has been prepared for the 2.4-km common corridor; and an Initial Environmental Examination has been developed for the staging facility. A separate RP has been prepared for the 2.4-km common corridor and the staging facility.

Public consultations with various stakeholders were conducted from December 2017 to June 2019 and a Public Consultation Meeting was held in October 2018, for which the EIA report in English and the executive summary of the EIA report in both English and Urdu were disclosed for public comment. The executive summary of the RP was translated into Urdu in the form of a resettlement brochure and together with the RP in English were prominently displayed in the Project area accessible to stakeholders, particularly Project-affected people. Environmental and social documents have been disclosed on ADB’s website https://www.adb.org/projects/47279-002/main.