KARACHI: City Administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab said on Friday that the engineering department of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation was carrying out construction and lining of more than 20 roads in different areas of the city under special grant of Rs1 billion from the provincial government.

Reviewing the progress of road construction works at a meeting, he directed the director general of the KMC’s engineering department to ensure the completion of all under-construction roads within the stipulated time of 45 days in any case.

The meeting was told that roads in the district Central where construction work started immediately included Gharibabad to Usman Memorial Hospital, Madina Masjid Food Street, Ziauddin Hospital Chowrangi to Mujahid Colony, Sir Syed Girls College to Lasbela Chowrangi, Bada Maidan to Khilifat Chowk. These roads are being constructed at a cost of Rs50 million each.

In district East, University Road, Sindhi Muslim Society Chowrangi, Commercial Area Link Road and Tipu Sultan Mubarak Shaheed Road are being constructed, while construction work is in progress on Shahrah-i-Attar and adjacent areas, Shahrah-i-Iran, Shahrah-i–Liaquat and M.A. Jinnah Road in district South at a cost of Rs50m each.

Similarly, in Malir district, Khalid Bin Waleed Road is under construction from Bhens Colony to Mehran Highway. Hyderi Chowk Road and the road from Qadeer Chowk to Nafees Cinema are also under construction.

In districts West and Keamari, Jackson Market Road and adjacent streets and Site Flyover to Lyari Expressway are also being repaired or constructed.

It was informed that flyovers and expansion joints of bridges were also being replaced.

Expansion joints of Quaidabad Flyover, Malir Naddi Flyover, Natha Khan Flyover, Hassan Square Flyover, Johar Mor Flyover and Qasim Umar Flyover opposite to National Stadium will be replaced.

The administrator, who is also provincial government’s spokesman and chief minister’s adviser on law, said that quality should be taken into account in these works so that the roads being constructed prove to be durable.

He said that he was grateful to the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party and the chief minister for providing a grant of Rs1,000m to the KMC for immediate relief.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2022