KARACHI: Lyari expressway project to prove disastrous
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Oct 28: The proposed Lyari Expressway is a disastrous project for the metropolis as it will displace thousands of people and will not solve the problem of vehicular traffic, experts and the people related to traffic and transport said.
Instead the operation of the Karachi Circular Railways could be revived by spending much less funds. It would provide the citizens with a safe, cheap, convenient and environment friendly mode of transport.
However, officials in the government claimed the Lyari Expressway Project was the need of the hour and in the interest of the citizens, which would reduce the pressure of vehicular traffic on various thoroughfares of the city.
According to the salient features, the two plus two lane dual carriageway and 16.5 kilometre-long Lyari Expressway will start from Sohrab Goth on the Super Highway and terminate at Mauripur Bridge on Mauripur Road, running all the way along the Lyari river.
The project cost has been estimated at Rs4 billion and it will be completed in 36 months (three years). Rs500 million have been released by the federal government for the project so far.
The estimates do not include any expenditure for providing land to those who would be displaced as result of the project.
The sources said it would be the responsibility of the provincial government to remove encroachments to provide the National Highway Authority a free space to build the project.
They said the provincial government has completed the survey and submitted it to the federal government; the areas for the resettlement of the displaced people had been identified in the survey. However, it has not been decided so far as to whether the displaced would be provided with houses or they would be given cash to build their houses.
However, the displacement and rehabilitation work may delay the construction of the Expressway for lack of funds on the part of the provincial government.
The sources said the provincial government would seek financial assistance from the federal government in this respect. The estimated rehabilitation cost and the actual project cost could escalate beyond the double of the estimated figure of Rs4 billion.
Rs2 billion would be needed only to relaunch the operation of the Karachi Circular Railways with refurbished coaches, upgraded stations, repaired tracks and increased frequency, said the people related to the transport and traffic issues.
Arif Hasan of the Urban Resource Centre and Orangi Pilot Project said the Expressway project would be devastating for the city.
“Thousands of people will be displaced and the education of an estimated 18 thousands students will be affected”, he maintained.
Claiming that there was no resettlement plan so far, he urged authorities to make the plan, if there was any, public.
He said an estimated 30,000 trips of vehicles would take place on the proposed expressway a day and the Sohrab Goth point would be a crowded place. Instead, he said, the Northern Bypass Project would be suitable for heavy vehicles as it would also provide the shift of heavy vehicles and on the other hand it would reduce the market load in the downtown.
He said that there was no space for markets to grow within the congested old city areas. If the government provided suitable place for commercial activity along the Northern Bypass, it would give the market owners an opportunity to carry out their business on its either side.
Regretting that there was no coordinated study on the traffic flow in the city, he stressed the need for solving the traffic problems on Korangi Road, Preedy Street, Guru Mandir roundabout, Purani Numaish Chowrangi, etc.
Referring to the KCR, he said the operation of the Circular Railway could be initiated with much less amount than what would be spent on the Lyari Expressway and the KCR would be feasible for the city.
Another expert on transport matters, associated with a government department, who asked not to be named, said the idea to build the Lyari Expressway and Northern Bypass was to provide the trucks, going to upcountry from seaport, a safe passage to travel out of the city without disturbing the city traffic.
He said the goods could be shifted from the seaport to the upcountry through the railway network, the railway network was available to the port and if the authorities paid attention towards the issue; the government could earn billions of rupees in shape of revenue.
The sources said that goods-shifting through the railways had been discouraged and neglected by the authorities for the past few years, encouraging transport operators to fill the vacuum.
They said the transport mafia in connivance with some officials in the provincial and the federal government had become powerful enough to mould public-interest projects in their favour. During the past decade, a number of trucks carrying drugs and illegal weapons were seized on the highways . This illegal activity could not be easily carried out through railways and its goods carriers.
The sources said that the delay in the revival of the KCR was part of the intrigue hatched by the transport mafia. If the KCR was operative and its tracks were extended in some other localities to link up the entire city, the importance of public transport and their monopoly would vaporise.
Reduction in vehicular traffic and public transport volume would also help reduce the atmospheric pollution, noise pollution and accidents, they added.
