ALL over the world, especially in the Global North, elevated expressways and flyovers are no longer built. Not only that, those which were built in the last century are being demolished. The space they vacate is being turned into public spaces (such as parks and sports facilities) for the benefit of city residents, especially the youth. These demolitions and conversions are seen in the US, Europe and the UK. Even in South Korea, over 13 flyovers are being replaced by recreational spaces. Also cities no longer tolerate polluting expressways through their cultural and or city centres. They bypass them. This is a concept well-understood by our planners who have designed and implemented bypasses for many Pakistan’s cities but in many cases, due to real estate and other construction, these bypasses no longer act as such and do not have any relationship in the planning process to our cultural heritage.
A very important road is now being envisaged for Karachi from the KPT to Shahrah-i-Bhutto. This is because the Karachi Port generates a volume of traffic that the city’s infrastructure cannot handle. Due to this reality, there are huge traffic jams at the exit points to the city, which also creates congestion in other parts of the city. These traffic jams, especially at the exit points and the Karachi Port Trust, can last for hours, causing economic loss to not just KPT but to the entire country.
Given these conditions, Karachi’s civic agencies have decided to build a road that connects KPT to Shahrah-i-Bhutto, thus creating an additional exit to the city to solve this very serious problem.
It is true that port-related traffic needs an additional outlet from KPT, since all outlets are heavily congested and are the cause of major traffic jams at the outlets where trucks travelling to the north have to wait for hours to move. However, the proposal, if implemented, will ruin the city aesthetically and environmentally. No city in the world today is likely to implement such a proposal. The journey of this road will be through the Mai Kolachi bypass, which passes through an open area of 1,400 acres. A KPT housing colony was supposed to be constructed here but was stopped through a court order following citizens’ objection.
The expressway is bound to threaten Karachi’s ecology.
This area can be developed as an urban forest and a playground for young sportsmen and can be an important lung for the city, which has few open spaces and almost no sports facilities. This road will turn the area into a noisy, polluted zone, and during the monsoon season, the winds from the sea will carry both the noise and the fumes of the traffic to the city centre. The chief minister’s office will also be affected by it.
Following this, the road will also pass through Defence Society. Here its journey will be through Sunset Boulevard, one of the most elite areas of the city. This journey will also be mostly elevated. This port-related traffic, which will consist mostly of heavy trailers, will adversely affect the privacy of the residents, and create noise and pollution, including in its construction phase. Given these conditions it will be difficult for many residents to continue to live on Sunset Boulevard and the areas adjacent to it.
The road will then pass through Qayyumabad and its adjoining low-income settlements. Their already fragile health will be further affected by the fumes and noise of the heavy traffic. Finally, the road will join up with Malir Expressway, which has already been considered an environmental disaster and which is said to have an adverse effect on the ecology of the Malir area.
Given these conditions, the road will substantially increase pollution in the Malir corridor. The Malir corridor was planned to be banned for rickshaws and motorcycles for environmental and safety reasons, and with this road there will be increased environmental hazards and the original purpose of the Malir corridor will be negated.
Given what has been said about it, it is necessary to find another solution which does not pass through the city and does not create further environmental stress for Karachi. One option is to take a road from KPT to behind Machhar Colony and to join it at some point with M-9. It might cost more but it will be worth it. Let us spend public funds judiciously.
It is encouraging to see that the government agencies are desirous of engaging the citizens of Karachi in taking this important decision. It is hoped that this will happen for all other important projects as well and that the citizens’ concerns will be addressed.
The writer is an architect.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026
