Press Release
KARACHI: Expressing concern over the city’s deteriorating transport system, Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor said on Sunday that Karachi suffered economic losses exceeding half a billion rupees every day due to inadequate public transport.
Shakoor explained that conservative estimates based on traffic congestion, wasted fuel, lost labour hours, and delayed movement of goods indicated that the city incurred daily losses of more than half a billion rupees. The shortfall, he said, directly affected industrial productivity, port operations, business efficiency, and household incomes. Millions of workers reportedly spent several hours daily in traffic, reducing output while increasing stress, fatigue, and health costs.
He highlighted that historically, major global cities had progressed on the foundation of robust public transport systems. Cities such as London, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Singapore, and Dubai developed underground railways, metro networks, and integrated bus systems alongside their rise as economic hubs. Efficient commuting, he noted, expanded labour markets, reduced transport costs, increased land values, and supported industrial and commercial growth.
Altaf Shakoor cited examples of global urban development: London’s emergence as a financial centre was powered by the world’s first underground railway, enabling mass daily commuting. Tokyo became the largest metropolitan economy through an efficient metro and suburban rail network, while New York’s subway facilitated vertical expansion and rapid workforce movement. Singapore maintained economic efficiency and controlled congestion through integrated transport planning, and Dubai aligned its metro with ports, airports, and commercial zones, transforming into a global logistics and tourism hub. According to Shakoor, these examples demonstrated that modern transport was not a by-product of development but a primary driver.
In contrast, he said, Karachi’s growth had been disconnected from structured transport planning. The collapse of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR), closure of the Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC), unregulated growth of private vehicles, weak bus networks, and reliance on informal transport had produced severe congestion, pollution, accidents, and economic inefficiency. Poor connectivity, he argued, restricted labor mobility, delayed cargo to ports, and discouraged investment.
Shakoor added that beyond economic implications, transport failures deepened social inequality. Women, students, and low-income workers suffered most from unsafe and unreliable travel, while rising emissions further damaged public health and urban livability. He noted that Karachi remained one of the world’s most polluted cities.
He said that if Karachi aspired to become a world-class city, it needed to follow a proven global path, including the rapid expansion of bus rapid transit (BRT), revival of the Circular Railway, development of feeder networks, and creation of walkable infrastructure. Without such measures, he warned, the city’s economic losses would continue unchecked.
Shakoor urged the federal government to support the revival and expansion of the KCR under CPEC Phase 2 and called on the Sindh government to complete the Red Line BRT urgently, along with phase two of the Green BRT. He claimed that every rupee invested in Karachi’s transport system could yield at least one hundred rupees in national economic growth.
