THE University Road in Karachi is no more a road. It has become a test of endurance for the commuters. What was once the city’s vital artery is today a sprawling construction site for the much-delayed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line project. The cost of this delay should not be measured just in terms of floating dust and traffic jams. It should actually be measured with respect to the paralysis of governance itself.

Situated right on this chaotic stretch are two of the most critical offices; the Accountant-General Sindh and the Accountant-General Pakistan Revenues. Every day, hundreds of government employees, pensioners and visitors are forced to navigate broken service lanes, deep trenches, and thick clouds of dust just to reach these offices.

How can a government expect efficiency from its own accountants when it cannot provide them with a road to reach their offices? Files are delayed, pensioners are left waiting in the open, and public record work suffers because staff cannot reach on time. The state is, in effect, sabotaging its own functioning.

The relevant authorities seem to have trouble understanding a simple concept; development should not come at the cost of disruption in existing public services. The slow pace of the project, lack of alternative routes, and total absence of dust-control measures show a complete lack of planning and empathy for the citizens. Nobody opposes the project. Karachi desperately needs mass transit. But everybody opposes the inhumane mode of executing it. The University Road is a lifeline and it must be treated like one.

Himayat Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2026