KARACHI, July 5: One track of all the three underpasses (Ups) being constructed at different locations on Ibne Sina Road will be opened to vehicular traffic next month, District Coordination Officer Fazalur Rehman said here on Tuesday night.

In an informal meeting with a group of newsmen at his camp office, located at former commissioner office, he said that work on all the three underpasses which was going on round-the-clock in three shifts had been further expedited to ensure their completion in August. Referring to the nazim’s vision of making a signal-free corridor (from SITE to airport), the DCO said that all seven mega projects, which included three underpasses and four flyovers, were designed to provide relief to motorists who often remain stuck up at the congested traffic intersections.

One of the tracks of all the three underpasses being constructed at Gharibabad, Liaquatabad No 10 and near Nazimabad Flyover will be opened to vehicular traffic in August while both tracks of these underpasses will be completed and opened to vehicular traffic in October.

Terming the project a herculean task, Mr Rehman said that though all those associated with the project had never undertaken such a gigantic work earlier, they were working on it with a missionary zeal to accomplish the task in the shortest possible time.

About the shifting of utility services lines and cables, he said that it was a commendable job on the part of the KWSB as it created a history by shifting 54 and 33 inches diameters old pipelines from the project’s sites in record shortest duration. Besides, the shifting of KESC’s 11KV line was though an uphill task the problem had been solved amicably, he added.

“Believe me that all the utility services’ lines which were shifted in merely three to three-and-a-half months was not even possible in two-and-a-half years,” he said that since Nazim Mustafa Kamal was monitoring and evincing keen interest in the project, all the utility services organisations extended their full cooperation in this regard.

Asked about the measures taken to ensure uninterrupted work on all the three underpasses if monsoon starts, the DCO said that work on the project would not suffer even during rains as all arrangements had been made to drain out rainwater from the projects’ sites for which latest de-watering machines had already been acquired.

All the three underpasses are being constructed under Tameer-i-Karachi Programme at a total cost of Rs852 million. Both the provincial and city governments are equally sharing the project’s cost.

The underpass being built near Nazimabad Flyover is the longest with a length of 750 meters, followed by Liaquatabad (668 metre-long) and Gharibabad Underpass (560 metre-long).

Having similar depth of 5.2 metres, all the three underpasses on their completion will ensure unhindered flow of vehicular traffic from SITE to the airport thus saving time and fuel of the motorists taking this route.

KWSB’s Managing Director Brig Iftikhar Haider, Executive District Officer (Works and Services) Sarfraz Ali Shah and Project Director Khuda Bukhsh Pathan were also present on the occasion.