ISLAMABAD, Jan 12: The government here on Tuesday signed a 10 million Kuwaiti Dinar (US$34million) loan agreement with Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development for the construction of Lyari Expressway, Karachi.
The agreement was signed by Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Shuja Shah and Hisham Ibrahim Fares Al-Waqayan, Deputy Director General (operations and disbursement) Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.
The total cost of the Lyari Expressway project, which is to be completed by June 2007, is estimated at KD 41.1 million ($138 million), of which the equivalent of about $16.5 million is expected to be incurred in foreign exchange.
The Fund loan of KD 10 million ($34 million) would cover about 24 per cent of the total project cost. The loan shall be for a period of 24 years, including a six-year grace period. The sponsoring agency of the project is the Ministry of Communications and is being executed by the National Highway Authority.
During the implementation of the project, 16.5 kilometre-long control access, four-lane dual carriageway (Lyari Expressway), with two interchanges, five flyovers and five underpasses would be constructed.
Two lanes each would be constructed on either bank of the Lyari River. The project is aimed at providing faster, congestion-free, shorter and environment friendly intra-city connection between Mauripur Road and the Superhighway.
It will accommodate a considerable part of the traffic plying between Karachi Port and Superhighway. After the completion of the project, annual revenue of about Rs 414 million is expected to be generated from the toll proceeds.
The project was started by Frontier Works Organisation on Feb 5, 2002 as one of the mega projects included in the President's Vision 2007. About 25 per cent of the construction and 40 per cent of rehabilitation work of the project has since been completed.
