KARACHI, Aug 14: The slow pace of work on the reconstruction of Orangi-Baldia Road has caused most of the transporters to stop plying their buses in the narrow lanes as alternative routes.

Work on the project was initiated over a year ago with the removal of encroachments from the road. Since the beginning of the work, the operators of Urban Transport Service (UTS-37) buses suspended the service between the two towns. Last year, 1-D bus operators cut their route short and though the buses were supposed to run up to Toori Bangash Colony they started returning from L-Block Chowk.

The operators of minibuses continued their service in the narrow streets but due to overflowing sewerage lines and streets inundated with rainwater the minibuses too avoided to carry on.

A few minibuses of W-25 or 7-Star routes that still ply cannot cater to the needs of such a large population of Ittehad Town, Mohammad Khan Colony, Raja Tanveer Colony, Toori Bangash Colony and adjacent areas which often result in scuffles among the passengers vying for a seat.

The slow pace of work is not only a source of inconvenience for the commuters but also for the business community who face hurdles in transportation of different commodities to their shops.

A leader of the shopkeepers’ union, Haji Mohammd Iqbal, said a delegation of the elders would meet City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal to apprise him of their problems and seek his cooperation in the early completion of the work.

For the reconstruction of L-Block Road, the contractor concerned had removed encroachments a year back, but the road construction work is yet to be initiated.

During the last one year, some area was dug up for the sewerage line work. However, it was still in progress when the recent heavy showers lashed the city. Subsequently, the four-foot-wide lane dug up for laying sewerage line was filled with rainwater, posing threat to the pedestrians, particularly to the area residents and the shopkeepers.

The contractor’s supervisor and labourers on the site said that the work would take some time to complete as the firm had contracts of some other projects as well.