Work on Karachi expressway remains stalled, NA told

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: The National Assembly was informed on Thursday that 74 per cent of the Lyari Expressway project in Karachi was completed in about a decade with an allocation of nearly Rs20 billion and work on the remaining part was suspended because of lack of the right of way for its north-bound carriageway. The information was placed before the house by Communications Minister Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan in response to a question by Abdul Waseem of the MQM. The minister said the entire south-bound carriageway and 35 per cent of the north-bound part were open for traffic. He said the remaining work could be completed in a year after the areas marked for its construction were handed over to the National Highway Authority (NHA) by the city government, along with release of adequate funds by the finance division. The last deadline set for completion of the expressway was February last year, but work was hel d up because of continuous illegal occupation of the site by people enjoying tacit support of local politicians. Originally the project was estimated to cost Rs4.892 billion and construction work scheduled to commence in May 2002 and complete in 30 months. A revised PC-I of Rs5.081 billion was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in April 2003 and the cost was later increased to Rs11.7 billion. Under the initial plan, Rs2.7 billion was earmarked for the rehabilitation of over 30,000 families affected by the project. The amount was raised to Rs4.7 billion and currently stands at Rs8.7 billion. According to records, about 6,000 affected families are yet to be settled. Recent figures show that 86 per cent of the total construction area has been cleared. NHA officials said the task of clearing the land and removing encroachments was assigned to the Sindh government and the city authorities but they could not com plete the work on time because of political and social pressures and administrative issues. According to the PC-I, the Sindh government had agreed to bear half the cost of the project, but it has not released any amount for the purpose. While the clearance of the occupied area is awaited, the Frontier Works Organisation is charging the NHA more than Rs10 million a month on account of consultancy and supervision. The expressway with four interchanges, 16 bridges and flyovers and 83 culverts was conceived to provide public-friendly and congestion-free traffic from Karachi port to the Superhighway at Sohrab Goth. It would have reduced the travel time by up to half an hour.