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KARACHI, July 10: While road development figures high on the list of lofty claims made by city government representatives, the situation on the ground is far from encouraging. Ill-planned and poorly-executed roadwork, inordinate delays in making repairs, recurrent problems of broken water and sewerage lines and high levels of atmospheric dust caused by the excavations combine to become a nightmare for Karachi’s citizens.
Dawn has learnt that several months ago, a number of central thoroughfares were dug up under the city government’s Tameer-i-Karachi programme but no provisions were made for alternative routes or diversion maps. Most of these so-called road development projects are made all the more hazardous by deep potholes, ditches, excavation debris and sewerage flowing from pipelines that burst during the digging.
On over a dozen roads, one entire lane has been dug up which leaves motorists no option but to drive on the opposite side, against the flow of traffic. This results in gridlocked traffic and accidents, to say nothing of the wastage of citizens’ time and fuel.
The situation has worsened in wake of the on-going monsoon rains, since driving hazards such as ditches created by the construction work are hidden by the water flooding the roads.
Lanes closed for construction
The severity of the problem faced by motorists and commuters travelling by public transport can be gauged from the fact that at a time when one lane of the main University Road (from New Town roundabout to Hasan Square) is closed to vehicular traffic, citizens travelling from Liaquatabad via Sir Shah Suleman Road cannot go straight on to Stadium Road. The routes to Pir Sibghatullah Shah Rashdi Road – where there are two major hospitals – and Dalmia Road are blocked because a portion of Stadium Road in front of the Expo Centre is closed for construction.
Similarly, the other lane of Sir Shah Suleman Road which leads to Liaquatabad, Nazimabad and Site Industrial Area from Hasan Square is also closed. This leaves vehicles no choice but to take the long route along Sehba Akhtar Road and Yaseenabad before turning left towards Karimabad from the Aisha Manzil traffic intersection.
The closure of one lane on Sir Shah Suleman Road also means that residents of Liaquatabad and Nazimabad are forced to share Sehba Akhtar Road with traffic from Federal B Area, North Nazimabad and Gulshan-i-Iqbal – and that too on one lane only, since the other one is dug up.
The section of University Road between Hasan Square and Jail Road intersection was dug up for reconstruction over six months ago and has still not been repaired. It is often inundated and now sports a large number of ditches and craters.
One lane of a section of Tipu Sultan Road, from Adamjee Nagar to the Shaheed-i-Millat traffic intersection, was dug up for reconstruction more than four months ago. It has become a death-trap for motorists and motorcyclists since the parapet wall of an eight-ten foot wide storm water drain running along the road has also been demolished. Residents of the nearby Al-Hamra Housing Society and Bangalore Town said that a car fell into this drain during the recent rains and its occupants were seriously injured.
Other roads that have simultaneously been dug up around the city are:
• A portion of the Sindhi Muslim Cooperative Housing Society, from Allahwala Chowk to the Sharea Faisal traffic intersection
• Kashmir Road
• A major portion of Orangi town’s main road
• Korangi’s Road 8,000
• A portion of Shahrah-i-Pakistan
• A portion of main University Road from the Expo Centre to Bait-ul-Mukkarram Masjid
Who is meant to benefit?
Residents of Gulshan-e-Iqbal’s Block 14, located behind the Busy Bee restaurant, complained to Dawn that traffic jams on University Road force vehicles to drive through the residential areas, which causes noise and environmental pollution and also damages the lanes.
Meanwhile, motorists complain bitterly about the various incomplete ‘road development’ projects since they face gridlocks, driving hazards and accidents. One fails to understand the city government’s lax attitude towards these road construction projects since they are causing great misery to the very people whom they are meant to benefit.
