Sindh Court rules cancellation of Karachi BRT Red Line contract unlawful, rejects termination over lack of progress.

The Sindh Court’s Dispute Resolution Board declared the cancellation of the BRT Red Line construction contract unlawful, null, and void. The decision came after the Sindh High Court directed the parties to use the board to resolve the dispute. The government had terminated the contract for the Mosamiyat‑to‑Numaish segment, calling it a lack of progress. AM Associate, the contractor, filed a constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court to challenge the termination. The board found that TransKarachi, the Sindh government‑owned implementation agency, lacked the institutional capacity and experienced project management required for a project of this scale. It noted that TransKarachi had not met several fundamental contractual obligations at the start of the work. Key failures cited by the board included an incomplete design, unresolved site encumbrances, pending payments to the contractor, and repeated design revisions. These issues “materially affected the Contractor’s ability to execute the works” and contributed to the delays. The board also highlighted the absence of attempts to pursue reasonable contractual alternatives before terminating the contract. It concluded that the decision to terminate was premature, not a last resort, and that effective contract management could have avoided the cancellation. The ruling mandates that both parties abide by the signed agreement and that the court‑ordered Dispute Board remains active to oversee the project’s future execution.