Orange Line project full of red flags

• Due to multitudes of issues and several delays, the project completion was delayed by a year and with over Rs.169 billion spent, the government is looking to begin operations to start revenue generation.
• Experts from LESCO state that daily electricity consumption will total to an estimated 25 million which amounts to a cost of 750 million rupees per month that the government will have to incur to run the project.

It is no secret that the Orange Line project was doomed from the start. The ambitious project was and still is unsustainable for an ailing economy like Pakistan. Yet, the previous government has spent such a significant amount on the project that the Orange Line metro is stuck.

Due to multitudes of issues and several delays, the project completion was delayed by a year and with over Rs.169 billion spent, the government is looking to begin operations to start revenue generation. Yet, reports from the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) stated that during the 90-hour test run conducted earlier, 2.7 million electricity units were consumed. In Rupees, that comes out to approximately 50 million.

Experts from LESCO state that daily electricity consumption will total to an estimated 25million which amounts to a cost of 750million rupees per month that the government will have to incur to run the project. Questions arise on how feasibility studies and risk assessments recommended to approve the project that runs along 27kms of track in Lahore.

Ticket prices are set to be capped at Rs.60, which would require a Rs. 10 billion subsidy to operate the metro line. CM Punjab went on record to state that to break even, a ticket would need to be charged at Rs. 285 and that there are much better uses of subsidies than to fund a 27km track.

While the project is a Belt and Road Initiative collaboration, the government must seriously assess the red flags that loom over the Orange line. To continue the nightmare of the Rs. 200billion spent (read: wasted) and continue to hinder the ailing economy, or have your hat-in-hand and shut down a project that should never have been commissioned?