June 12, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1429

KARACHI, June 11: A row between the city district government of Karachi (CDGK) and the National Highway Authority (NHA) over the collection of toll tax on the Lyari Expressway and the Northern Bypass continues as the federal government has failed to take up the issue pending settlement for the last four months.

In February, the city government sought the intervention of the caretaker federal government for the resolution of the issue of toll tax collection on the two mega-projects – the Lyari Expressway and the Northern Bypass – constructed by the NHA, on the ground that they are within the administrative limits of the city government rather than being inter-provincial highways.

Karachi Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal wrote a letter to the then caretaker federal minister for communication, pointing out that the toll tax being collected on the Lyari Expressway and the Northern Bypass by the NHA was beyond its mandate.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that caretaker minister Habibur Rehman had asked the authorities concerned to submit their report about the city government’s contentions. However, the matter was never taken up after the inception of the Pakistan People’s Party-led federal government, in which the portfolio of communication was given to Pakistan Muslim League-N MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who later tendered resignation along with other party colleagues.

The sources said that the NHA authorities did not want to hand over collection of toll tax to the city government on the pretext that it was the federal government which bore all expenses for the construction of the Lyari Expressway and the Northern Bypass, besides providing millions of rupees for the resettlement of displaced families.

They, however, maintained that the two mega-projects would have never been constructed if the city government had not given the right of way to the federal government.

It was pointed out in the nazim’s letter that it was the people of Karachi who had faced great financial losses and hardship during the process of displacement. The city government contributed a major part of the cost of the two projects as it gave the city’s valuable land to the federal government.

He had maintained that acknowledging the cooperation of the people of the metropolis, President Pervez Musharraf had granted the two projects as a “gift” to the people of Karachi and, therefore, the benefit should go to them.

The sources said the city government would spend the toll tax money on the maintenance and betterment of the two projects if the federal government shifted the mandate to it from the NHA.

However, it is learnt that the matter is still pending with the ministry of communications which has neither rejected nor accepted the city government’s demand.

A source in the NHA told Dawn that a sharing formula should be devised instead of handing over the entire toll tax collection to the city government.

In February, President Musharraf inaugurated the south-bound track of the Lyari Expressway, which was completed at a cost of Rs13 billion. The construction of the north-bound track is in progress.

The 16.6km-long Lyari Expressway is meant for light traffic while the Northern Bypass caters to heavy traffic, as all goods reach the port through the Northern Bypass without entering the city.

Nearly 24,000 families had been displaced during the construction of the south-bound carriageway of the Lyari Expressway and had been settled in three areas – Taiser Town, Hawkesbay and Baldia Town – at a cost of Rs5 billion. The Northern Bypass was opened to vehicular traffic in August 2007. The 57km-long project was aimed at accelerating the movement of heavy traffic carrying goods meant for export as well as imported goods without hampering traffic flow in the city, besides providing a direct link between the Karachi Port and the newly constructed Gwadar Port through the Makran Coastal Highway.

It is pertinent to mention here that the City Council had also passed a resolution in March 2008 stating that collection of the tax should come under the purview of the CDGK.