August 08, 2008	Friday	Sha’aban 5, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 7: The fate of a much-debated mega project – Karachi Elevated Expressway – hangs in the balance as the city government is undecided whether to construct the project over Sharea Faisal or the railway tracks.

On Feb 9, 2007, President Pervez Musharraf performed the groundbreaking of the 24-kilometre-long elevated expressway from the Jinnah Bridge to the Quaidabad intersection. Four months later, the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) granted clearance to the elevated expressway project after holding an environment assessment impact (EIA) public hearing.

Sources told Dawn that according to the approved plan, the elevated expressway was to be built over the central medians of Sharea Faisal and M.T. Khan Road. However, the then Sindh chief secretary, Shakil Durrani, had asked the city government to review its plan and instead construct the expressway over the adjacent railway tracks for which the Pakistan Railways would provide land to the city government.

Mr Durrani, who had also served as chairman of the Pakistan Railways, played an important role in negotiations between the city government and the railway authorities and it was during the last days of the caretaker government when two bodies had reached an agreement with regard to the construction of the expressway project.

The sources said the railway authorities asked the city government to use their land for the construction of expressway and in return it had to clear all encroachments on the railways land.

They said that the city government had expressed its willingness to remove all encroachments and agreed that the resettlement and rehabilitation of all affected people would be its responsibly as it had decided to give alternative plots to the encroachers.

However, soon after the Feb 18 general election and formation of the new coalition government, the railway authorities reportedly changed their mind and informally conveyed to the city government that it could use its land for the construction of an expressway only on payment.

The sources said that the railway authorities were demanding money for those areas which had been heavily encroached and it would not be feasible for the city government to make payment to the railways as well as encroachers for their resettlement.

“The present management of the Pakistan Railway is unwilling to allow us to use their land without giving the market price,” said a senior city government official. “The negotiations are still going on and the matter can easily be decided if the federal government support the city government.”

The sources said that the proposed change in the design plan of the elevated expressway had caused a considerable delay in the commencement of the construction work and in case the Pakistan Railways gave permission to the city government to use its land for expressway, the construction would not be started immediately as another EIA was necessary before the launch of the project.

They said that the city government would wait for another month and in case the Pakistan Railways officially rejected the proposal to build the expressway over railway tracks, it would ask M/s IJM Corporation of Malaysia to start construction work as per the approved design plan over Sharea Faisal and M.T. Khan Road.

The Malaysian firm will undertake the $350 million elevated expressway project and it would operate it for 20 years by charging a toll tax from commuters using the expressway.