KARACHI: Federal and Sindh govts differ over expressway
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Nov 18: The Sindh government has submitted a report to Islamabad on priority projects for Karachi city. Besides others, the projects are the Northern Bypass, Karachi Mass Transit Programme and Karachi Circular Railway.
A senior Sindh government official told Dawn that this report was part of the “National Infrastructure Development Programme (NIDP),” sent to the federal government, relating to priority projects.
In the NIDP it has been suggested to the federal government that the Northern Bypass is necessary to provide the port traffic with a corridor to pass through without disturbing the traffic within the city.
The Karachi Mass Transit Programme has been shown as the second in order of priority in the NIDP, which suggested short-and long-term planning of traffic management keeping in view the rapid growth of traffic in Karachi.
The Karachi Circular Railway, third on the priority list of the NIDP, has been referred to as equally necessary for the people as it would be an inexpensive, safe, convenient, environment-friendly and fast mode of transport within the city.
In the NIDP certain suggestions had been made to make the KCR a viable project. The official said the federal government had been informed that the revival of KCR operation on a short-term basis would need Rs one to Rs1.5 billion along with technical assistance by the railway authorities. The Pakistan Railways had already acceded to the Sindh government’s request for providing technical assistance to the operating authority of the KCR.
Replying to a question that the federal government in its budget gave importance to the Lyari Expressway and the Northern Bypass by allocating Rs500 million for each of these projects, the government official said: “The proposal of the Lyari Expressway project is not of the Sindh government. This project is their (federal government’s) own creation. We do not understand the rationale behind undertaking simultaneous construction of two identical projects: the Northern Bypass and the Lyari Expressway.”
He expressed his opinion that in the presence of the Northern Bypass the purpose of Lyari Expressway was incomprehensible. Heavy traffic from the port would pass through the Northern Bypass and it would not affect the city’s traffic as well as its atmosphere.
On the other hand, the Lyari Expressway would run through the heart of the city and its construction would also cause displacement of thousands of people. The expenses to be incurred on the removal of encroachments and providing the people displaced from along the Lyari river and providing them alternative land free of cost would be much higher than the estimated cost of the project, ie, Rs4bn.
However, officials of the National Highway Authority maintained: “These two projects are of an entirely different nature in concept and character and they are not a substitute for each other.”
“The Lyari Expressway, Karachi Northern Bypass and Karachi Circular Railway are separate projects and they have their own significance. These projects will greatly help in improving the transport system in Karachi,” they said.
The NHA officials claimed that “comparing the Lyari Expressway with the Karachi Northern Bypass is not logical. The former is aimed to ease traffic pressure and to eliminate other civic problems of the city. The benefits of the Karachi Northern Bypass would, however, be multidimensional and of national importance.”
According to the Lyari Expressway project’s evaluation, approximately 1.5m square yards of valuable land, encroached upon by people, would be vacated.
However, the provincial government had expressed its inability to provide alternative land free of cost to those to be displaced, the sources said adding that the removal of encroachments could also create a law and order situation.
Officials of the NHA, the executing authority of the project, claimed that all of the people residing illegally were willing to vacate the place. But a survey conducted by Dawn showed that most of the people living on the riverbed said they would not move to any other place, and they would resist attempts to remove them.
Some of the people, who would be affected, said their houses had been regularized by the competent authority and they had legal gas, electricity and water connections. “How can the government displace us when we are legal residents here,” said a resident.
The NHA claims that the 16.5-km Lyari Expressway is expected to be completed in 36 months with an estimated cost of Rs4bn. “The estimates do not include any expenditure on land and property compensation or resettlement,” according to the project evaluation report.
The report said the Lyari Expressway would have two interchanges — one at the Civic Centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal and the other at Manghopir Bridge — from where vehicles could climb up or down the expressway. The NHA also estimated Rs514m total revenue to be generated on account of toll tax. It estimated that Rs108m were expected to be collected from cars, Rs90m from wagons/minibuses and Rs144m from trucks/trailers in the year 2003. Besides Rs100m would be collected from commercial exploitation of 30 per cent of the reclaimed land.
Sources in the government maintained that though the project was meant for providing a corridor to heavy traffic from port to Super Highway, the toll collection was estimated to be Rs198m to be generated from cars and wagons/ minibuses and Rs144m from trucks/trailers. This showed that the road would not be built for heavy traffic only.
