Karachi Breeze Red Line project to be first transport system to use bio-methane

The Karachi Breeze Red Line project will be the first ever transport system in Pakistan to use bio-methane produced from animal waste to fuel its 213 buses fleet.

The project will have an estimated cost of Rs 78.3 billion and provide transport services for 300,000 people daily, said the Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh, in his welcome remarks while addressing to National Conference on Biogas Project for Karachi Red Line BRT held here at a local hotel.

The event was organised by the Asian Development Bank in collaboration with the Government of Sindh, UN Green Climate Fund (GCF), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD), all financiers of the Karachi Red Line BRT project.

According to the feasibility study, the Karachi Red Line BRT will have its own dedicated biogas plant located in the Landhi Cattle Colony, where 2,000 tonnes of cattle waste will be used to produce 60,000 Nm3 per day of biogas. The biogas plant will deliver 11 tonnes per day of Compressed Biomethane Gas (CBG) to the bus fleet, increasing to 17 tonnes over the life of the BRT line as demand increases.

The Asian Development Bank project team disclosed that the biogas plant will be built through a design, build, operate (DBO) contract in which a private firm will bid to provide the detailed design, construct, operate and maintain the plant. The tender is expected to be published around first quarter of 2020.

Red Line project, one of the proposed lines under the Karachi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, is the world's first transport project to receive funding from UN Green Climate Fund due to its use of an innovative and environment-friendly fuel resource.

Malik Amin Aslam, Federal Minster and Advisor to Prime Minister for Climate Change said that developing urban transport was not just a matter of supplying buses. In the era of environmental concerns, a critical consideration was how to power the system.

"Road congestion are costing Asian economies an estimated 2 to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) every year due to lost time and higher transport costs," said Xlaohong Yang, ADB Country Director for Pakistan.

"The biogas project, is part of ADB's vision to transform Karachi into a competitive, equitable, and environmentally sustainable urban centre," added Yang.

Sindh Transport and Mass Transit Department Minster, Awais Qadir Shah, said that the Government of Sindh in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) developed the transport master plan 2030 for Karachi which incorporates the revival of Karachi Circular Railway, two Mass Rapid Transit or MRT Brown Line and six Bus Rapid Transit Lines (Red, Green, Yellow, Aqua, Purple and Orange (Abdul Sattar Edhi Line).

He said that execution of Orange and Green Line is underway while the detailed designed of Red Line BRT has completed. He said that detailed design of Yellow Line will be commencing soon. He said that the PC-1 of both foreign funded Red and Yellow Line has recently approved. He further added that once these projects are completed, it will transform the city mass transit system that would be more efficient, sustainable, affordable and safe.

Naheed S Durrani Chairperson Planning and Development Department (P&DD), Government of Sindh during the panel session outlined that the Karachi Breeze Red Line biogas project is well aligned to the poverty reduction strategy (PRS), prepared by the Government of Sindh's planning and development department to address rural and urban poverty.

She said that the project will provide the first professional manure handling and waste management facility for the Landhi cattle colony and will take 50 percent of this manure and to provide a facility for the safe treatment of dead livestock in its first phase.