THE so-called ‘development’ project that was to be completed in two-and-a-half years is now in its fifth year, and Karachi’s people are the ones paying the price. When I had secured my university admission back in 2023, the Karachi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project on the University Road was already underway. Today, as I am about to start my final year, the scene remains virtually unchanged.

The project was announced in 2017, and civil works began in early 2022 with a promise of swift completion by 2024. That deadline was first pushed to the end of 2026, and now stands at June 2027. Costs have followed the same trajectory. For students like me, the cost of this delay is not counted in terms of money, or the hours that are lost finding one’s way out of one gridlock after another, or the dust we breathe every day.

It is costing us our education. Students trying to reach Karachi University, NED and Federal Urdu University routinely miss morning lectures because of the bottlenecks between Hasan Square and Nipa. Attendance falls short, academic schedules are disrupted, and our mental peace is shattered before we even enter classrooms. Meanwhile, the authorities just keep coming up with promises.

While nobody condemns development, everybody condemns incompetence and callousness. The government and the project contractors should accelerate the work, clear the remaining bottlenecks, and finish this project without another postponement. Our students’ academic future cannot remain stuck in a traffic jam.

Alishba Hassan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2026