KARACHI, Aug 3: Work on the northbound Lyari Express-way (LEW) phase-I (between Essa Nagri and Sohrab Goth) will be completed by October 2008 to open this section for traffic but the completion of the other portion is facing a delay of one to two years because of the encroachments blocking right of way, officials told PPI on Sunday.

Chairman of the National Highway Authority (NHA) Altaf Ahmed Chaudhry visited the project site a couple of days back and directed the NHA officials concerned to expedite the pace of work on the phase-I to complete it by October.

He was informed that 70 per cent work on the phase-I, spread over a six-kilometer stretch, had already been completed. The work on two flyovers — one at Yaseenabad and the other on Rashid Minhas Road — and an interchange at Sohrab Goth has almost been completed while the construction work on the main carriage-way and an interchange on Sir Shah Mohammad Sulaiman Road is underway.

The work on the other portions of the expressway — Lasbela, Sindhi Hotel, Teen Hatti and Orangi Nullah — is in progress while the development activities at Liaquatabad A-area, Mianwali Colony and Hassan Auliya Colony has been halted for want of right of way as encroachment in these areas have not been removed as yet.

“The CDGK has still not removed encroachments along a 5.5-km-stretch which is causing further delay,” an official said, adding that if the city government handed over right of way today, we would be able to execute the phase-II of the north bound section within one year.

A CDGK official, on condition of anonymity, said that about 5,911 families residing in Liaquatabad A-area, Mianwali Colony and Hasan Auliya Colony would be affected. “They are to be resettled in Taiser Town for which a PC-I costing Rs4,035.745 million had already been sent to Central District Working Party (CDWP) and ECNEC for final approval,” he added.