KARACHI, March 29: The city government has abandoned a plan to reconstruct a pre-partition period road on long-life pattern, although it had been included in the plan by a former mayor of Karachi.
The Begum Khursheed Road, connecting Malir Extension Road with the Murad Memon Goth Road, is one of the busy thoroughfares in Malir, and was built originally for the convenience of port workers/ fishermen, commuting between Memon Goth/Khokhrapar and the Karachi Port via the National Highway.
It meets the requirements of a huge population of Malir, being one of the shortest routes to Khokhrapar/Memon Goth from Malir Kala Board via the National Highway.
Former Mayor Dr Farooq Sattar had included this road in the long-life road projects upon strong insistence by the area people.
The road was, however, neglected by civic bodies, including the defunct KMC and the DMCs and the successive governments changed plans, giving preference to other roads and spent very little amount on the project.
Inquiries revealed that 400,000 vehicles pass through this road daily and due to potholes, the vehicles suffer breakdowns.
The problem has persisted since the laying of a water supply pipeline in the ‘80s as the road often caves in due to leakages and seepages in the pipeline.
One track of the road has an in-built fragility and the faulty water supply line starts leaking due to water pressure or because of traffic load.
The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that during the last several years, the KWSB and the city government have carried out frequent repair works on the faulty pipeline without replacing it.
MQM chief Altaf Hussain during his heyday had asked a group of his ministers at the Malir water boosting station to rebuild the road — named after his mother — and a sizable crowed had witnessed him asking his fellows to ensure start of work at the earliest.
Although people have suffered during the last several years, authorities in the new setup have made no commitment for taking up the project and have kept on delaying the plan for reasons best known to them.
The Begum Khursheed Road is a double-track road with properly marked footpaths and a central island having iron grills and is dotted with trees grown in different periods.
The area people said what is needed is the laying of the water supply line afresh and its reconstruction as all efforts to maintain the road have failed due to the water leakage from the supply line.
They accused the municipal administration officials of manipulation in construction of the Mehran Highway in Malir district at the cost of the road on political grounds as it had first been selected as a long-life project but work did not begin on any of the long-life roads.
