November 3, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 7, 1424

The governments conglomerate including the National Highway Authority (NHA), the City District Government of Karachi (CDGK), the government of Sindh and their affiliate contractor parties must have taken a sigh of relief after hearing the verdict of the Sindh High Court on October 14, 2003.

The learned judges have confirmed the status of the Lyari Expressway (LEW) as a project of national importance which is being constructed in the larger public interest for which private property could always be acquired under the law.

This was a much contended argument between the implementing bodies of the government and concerned professionals, citizens and directly affected persons. Now it seems adequately clear that the argument has settled in favour of the concerned government bodies. Whereas the much bothering anxiety for the government may have disappeared, the verdict delineates several important considerations that need to be followed in the true letter and spirit. This aspect seems particularly logical from the standpoint that the recourse to superior judiciary may normally remains the prerogative of the aggrieved party.

The government does not happen to be in that situation, at least from the statement of the interim judgment. Thus it remains a binding on them to completely execute the project according to the dictates of the law, professional merit and stipulations of the SHC judgment.

The conditions that are cited to declare the LEW as a vital project need a careful review. It is mentioned by the authorities that the freight traffic converging at the port and old town area is rising at an exponential pace. The city roads on which these goods carriers move can no longer bear this burden due to their already saturated status. It also creates traffic congestion, at times making these areas totally inaccessible. Multiplying informal storage activities, warehousing as well as storage functions in the dense inner city neighbourhoods constitute the other set of key reasons.

To address these conditions, the Lyari Expressway was proposed firstly by a group of citizens soon adopted by the administration of the erstwhile Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. Whether the planning and design, layout, alignment, right-of-way, entry and exit details, connections and links are worked out in a manner to address the core goods transportation problems is yet to be seen. No independent vetting of its design and details has been done to this date. The secretive approach adopted by the concerned authorities only raises doubts about the validity of their own claims regarding technical and environmental merit of the project.

Another important point to note is the fact that while the NHA has continued to label the LEW as a corridor for heavy traffic, the CDGK refutes the contention stating that heavy traffic shall pass through the Karachi Northern Bypass, also earmarked for early completion. It is obvious that until this conceptual issue is not resolved, the status of the LEW as a project of national importance shall remains questionable.

The facts known about the Lyari Expressway are very few. According to the information released to the public so far, the total length of the expressway is planned to be 16.5 kilometre along the Lyari river bed, supported by 16 bridges and four interchanging flyovers connecting the port with the super highway. The project has earmarked 25,400 houses, 3600 shops and over 250 educational and religious facilities. The overall number of directly affected persons shall exceed 200,000 people. Despite a stiff resistance from the people residing in the area, the present regime decided to begin its construction in 2000 at an estimated cost of Rs5 billion. Since January 2002, 5759 houses and commercial premises have been demolished, reported to fall in the right of way of the corridor.

The directive of the verdict is clear in its statement directing the authorities to minimize the damage to the properties. It may be worthwhile to remember that a group of concerned engineering experts developed a proposal for the Lyari Expressway that claimed to cause very little damage to the existing houses and properties. In the light of these facts, a review of the design becomes a mandatory pre-requisite for any further progress on the LEW.

Compensation to the affected persons has remained a critical issue in this project. The CDGK had devised a formula of doling Rs. 50000 and a plot of 80 sq. yards in a peri urban location. The project directorate, created to undertake resettlement, is undertaking this exercise without an overall planning and design guidelines. In other words, resettlement is done on a fire fighting basis—entirely in contradiction of technical considerations for such exercises. The attempt towards compensation and resettlement has been criticized on several counts. Valuation of the property according to the prevailing market rates was not made a basis for determining the compensation. Apparently due to the locational advantages and the overall activity profile which developed in the area, the land values along the Lyari river had risen considerably. According to one claim based on the evidences of prevailing sales and purchase of properties, the nascent land value accounted for at least 10 times the option that was offered. Status of life style quality was another aspect.

Over the period of time, people had obtained infrastructural services including electricity, gas and telephone. A relocation to a lesser site would amount to a forced reduction in the life style. Nearness of locality children to their schools or commuting to places to work was another factor ignored in the exercise. The post verdict scenario shall require the concerned departments and authorities to follow the prescribed norms as done else where in other similar situations.

Minimization of damage to the various locality residents, transparency in the operations and a technical justification to prove the worth of the LEW as a project of national importance are few of the further tasks the implementing authorities cannot ignore. The citizens of this city also have the right to hear from them the status of progress of Karachi Northern Bypass and the reasons to carry out both the projects at the same time. Needless to say that KNBP was a well thought out project developed by the city planners after careful analysis and design process, largely in response to ground realities.