KARACHI: Right of way termed main hurdle: Lyari Expressway project
KARACHI, April 16: Federal Communication Minister Muhammad Shamim Siddiqui has said that the federal government is not blaming the city district government of Karachi for the delays in Lyari Expressway project, but, it could not provide the right of way to the National Highway Authority in the given time.
Giving briefing about the pace of work on Lyari Expressway to newsmen at the office of NHA’s General Manager, he said that the city government and revenue department were facing resistance from the residents being affected by the project, and they had failed to get the area vacated.
He said that the expressway project, started in April 2002, was to complete by December 2004. But, he added, due to non-provision of ROW it could not be completed as yet. “If the CDGK provides ROW till June 2005, the NHA would complete it in June 2006,” he added.
The federal minister said that construction belonged to the federal government and the right of way was the responsibility of CDGK, which had to resettle the affectees and demolish old houses. He stated that all the basic facilities, including water, electricity, sewerage, hospitals and schools, would be provided in the area where the affected would be resettled.
Shamim Siddiqui said, “We want that minimum number of people is affected and that the project is completed at the earliest.” He pointed out that the displacement of some 25,000 people had been prevented by excluding the service lane from the Lyari Expressway.
He told newsmen that almost 70 to 75 per cent area had already been vacated, while there was resistance in remaining 25 per cent area mainly in PIB, Liaquatabad and Mauripur. Surprisingly, he said that in those localities some NGOs were provoking area people against the project saying that it was not in their favour, but those NGOs’ officials themselves resided in Defence and Clifton and they did not really care about the slum areas and their residents. The federal government was providing affected people better facilities then the existing ones, he maintained.
The minister said that the revenue department had asked the NHA to provide assistance to meet the problems in the localities where demolition operation was under way. In this connection, he said that the NHA had provided four mobiles to protect the workers of the department during the operation.
Talking about the cost of project, he said that the expressway construction had been initially estimated at a cost of Rs5 billion, which was increased due to delay and some changes in the project.
Expressing his fear about encroachment, the minister asked the department concerned to keep stern vigil on re-emergence of illegal structures on the project site. “Federal government is providing financial assistance to the genuine owner of the land,” he said and added it would not consider fake cases in this regard.
He asserted that federal government was also providing financial support to the city government for resettlement of the affected people, demolition operation and other related works. He made it clear that the city government was not at all bearing the financial burden of the said project.
“The progress report of the Lyari Expressway is being given to President Musharraf every week,” he said and adding that four major intersection at Sohrab Goth, Sir Suleman Shah Road, Mewa Shah and Mauripur, besides 12 flyovers would be constructed on the route of the expressway, while 24 underpasses would be constructed for pedestrians.
Referring to the Northern Bypass, the federal minister said that its 40 per cent portion had already been completed and opened for traffic. Two bridges, ICI to Maripur and Gulbahi to Sher Shah, were the bottlenecks in early completion of the Northern Bypass. — PPI/APP
