KARACHI, Oct 12: Work on the Korangi Road’s expansion has resumed after several months of suspension and repeated assurances by various ministers, the Sindh governor and the city Nazim.

The work came to a standstill when barely one-third of it had been done. Although there was no official version on work suspension, sources said the contractor had refused to proceed with the project at the cost he had earlier agreed.

The project, to be funded jointly by the city government, the Sindh government, the Defence Housing Authority and the Korangi Industries Association, was initially to be built at a cost of Rs53 million. Now its amount has been enhanced to Rs110 million.

The project aims at widening and recarpeting of the road from the Hino roundabout at Qayyumabad to Korangi Crossing with two tracks of 24 feet width each. Its inauguration was performed by the then governor of Sindh, Mohammedmian Soomro, on April 12, and the project was physically initiated on June 6, 2002. It was to be completed by June 12, 2003.

People travelling on the road have been suffering immensely as the road has developed big potholes and at places where work was left unfinished, sharp protruding gravel pieces threaten to puncture tyres. The road condition worsened after the last rains, when the Malir river thrice flowed over the road passing between the two embankments.

Now the underground electricity cables are being shifted to make way for the road expansion, fresh supplies of gravel are dumped at various places and the crumbling railings on the ramps are being dismantled and constructed anew.

This means just the ball has been set rolling. It will translate into many more months of suffering for the commuters of the Landhi and Korangi areas before the job is finished.

More than once the city Nazim has said that a flyover will be built at the Hino roundabout and a bridge over the Malir river off Qayyumabad.

The proposals sound ideal but considering the time the road expansion is taking, the bridge and flyover projects will take many years before they are implemented. The flyover proposal needs to be taken seriously. The roundabout gets heavy loads of traffic and often becomes as a bottleneck.— Naseer Ahmad