KARACHI, Dec 17: Protesters at a big rally, held here on Tuesday, demanded that the Lyari Expressway project be built according to the original plan.

Mainly comprising the affected people of the Expressway project, the protesters rejected modifications and alterations in the original plan saying that if the authorities went ahead with the revised plan, this would prove disasterous for Karachiites as millions of people would be rendered homeless.

They described the modified project as ‘anti-people’ and urged the government to restore its original design as approved in 1995.

The protesters also rejected the amount of compensation as ‘insufficient’ being paid to the affected people and called for a reasonable compensation.

The rally started with a demonstration organized by the Action Committee for Civic Problems but turned into a huge rally when activists and supporters of a number of trade unions and professional bodies joined in.

Addressed the rally, representatives of various NGOs and professional organizations urged the newly-elected government to stop the construction work on the project immediately and demanded an inquiry into the causes which prompted a revision of the plan.

It may be mentioned here that the work on Lyari Expressway project was started in April this year and it is likely to be completed in October 2004.

Besides modifications in the original project, the rehabilitation plan launched by the government has drawn considerable opposition from the affected people who have been staging demonstrations and rallies for the last few months. Though the work on the project was suspended for quite some time, the authorities went ahead with the revised plan turning down the public protests.

The original plan was conceived by the defunct KMC and designed by the UAE-based ‘Consortium Group-4’ which had offered the financial package on BOT basis in 1996.

The project was approved by the competent authorities and a Letter of Intent (LoI) issued to the consortium. Eventually, it was thrown into cold storage under political pressure with land-grabbers and bureaucratic wranglings being behind the political move.

However, soon after the military takeover, President Musharraf in his capacity as the Chief Executive, took personal interest in the execution of the project and entrusted it upon the National Highway Authority (NHA).

The prime objective for the construction of Lyari Expressway, as well as the Northern Bypass, was to reduce the load of heavy traffic on the main roads of the city.