KARACHI, Oct 28: Four mega projects, conceived by previous city administrations and now to be undertaken by the city government, to eliminate traffic bottlenecks, have hit a snag. People fear the projects have once again fallen prey to official red tape.

The hopes of the people to see roads in the city free from traffic jams and other bottlenecks have once again been dashed. Encroachments in the way of the proposed sites of the projects and the financial crunch afflicting the city government are the two seemingly insurmountable hurdles keeping the departments concerned from going ahead with the plan.

The Karachi city government plans to undertake four mega projects: the Lyari Expressway, Northern Bypass, Karachi Circular Railway and the one pertaining to plying omnibuses.

According to an official announcement, the Lyari Express and the Northern Bypass projects will be completed by 2005, and they will go a long way in easing traffic congestion in the city. However, no initiative has yet been taken in this regard by the departments concerned, except announcements.

The official population of Karachi is 13 million, and 1.2 million cars ply in the city which will benefit from the Lyari Expressway project to be built at a cost of Rs4 billion.

The Lyari river has been turned into a sewer, carrying the sewage of the city to the sea. The expressway project will involve relocation of 12,000 houses built in the riverbed. They will be shifted by the Sindh government, as per directives of President Gen Pervez Musharraf, not far away from their original place.

If the Sindh government provides land, especially in the vicinity of the Lyari river for shifting of the people, the project will be completed within the stipulated period, from the day the Sindh government will give the go-ahead signal.

Streams, rivers and canals passing through other cities have been tamed and been utilized for construction of roads on their banks. Similarly, the Lyari river will be tamed and dredging will be done to check floods in the future besides using its banks for construction of the proposed expressway.

Construction of a two-lane road of international standard has been proposed on the river banks, from Sohrab Goth to Mauripur bridge.

Some area will be reclaimed from the river and other will be managed by the provincial government in the vicinity. About 1.5 million square yards encroached land around it is narrowing its bed. That is why, during floods, the river goes our of control, playing havoc with the lives of the people living in the riverbed and in its vicinity.

In 1997, about 248 people were washed away by floods in the Lyari river.

The Northern bypass project will ease traffic congestion within the city. Traffic originating from the Karachi Port using the bypass road will bypass the roads within the city. As per the previous plan, it was to have been 74km- long, but it has been realigned bringing the total length to only 57 km.

Initially, it will be a two-lane road, but later it can be expanded to a four-lane road if need arises.—PPI