KARACHI, Feb 9: President Pervez Musharraf inaugurated on Friday the city’s first `signal-free corridor,’ comprising six major projects – three underpasses and three flyovers – and completed at a cost of over Rs3 billion by the City District Government. The corridor, from Karachi’s industrial area of SITE to the airport, will reduce travel time between the two points by about an hour.

The president, who drove through the `corridor’ praised the performance of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal and the Sindh government for having completed the project in record time of eight months.

The president said that the corridor would be of enormous benefit to the people of Karachi.

“This is a mega project. Cost does not matter. This is a project to facilitate people who live in Karachi, providing hurdle-free and hassle-free travel from SITE, Nazimabad and Liaquatabad to Drigh Road in just eight to 10 minutes,” he added.

“I have lived here and I know that people used to spend 20 minutes at each signal. They had to bear all the hassle of travelling on these routes. This corridor will reduce travel time by at least one hour. This will save petrol as well as save the driver from anguish,” he observed.Syed Mustafa Kamal said that the corridor would cover areas where 60 to 70 per cent of Karachi’s population lived. He said the project would meet the needs of the city for 25 to 50 years. Each underpass has water ducts at the entrance and in the middle to drain out water to Orangi Nullah and Gujjar Nullah. In case of heavy rains and accumulation of water, automatic motors would pump out water fast through drains, he added.