KARACHI, March 12: The City Nazim, Niamatullah Khan, on Saturday said the city government had finalized projects for construction of steel flyovers at 26 busy traffic intersections of the city at an estimated cost of over Rs.3988 billion.

The nazim said this in a meeting with a delegation of a Japanese company at the city government Secretariat. Foreign as well as local investors would be encouraged to invest in the said projects, he added.

EDO Works and Services Sarfaraz Ali Shah, EDO Finance Shakeel Naqvi, Director General Mass Transit Malik Zaheerul Islam, Technical Adviser to city nazim Saleem Azhar and other officials also attended.

Mr Niamat told the delegation that the city government was working on a project to make the Sharea Faisal a traffic signal free zone.

He said the flyover projects were launched so that traffic-related problems could be coped with in the metropolis. This, he added was in the light of the increasing population and number of vehicles, creating traffic jams.

The nazim said the construction of the Shah Faisal and FTC flyovers had proved to be a great help in saving the precious money of people and fuel, while the Shahrah-i-Quaideen flyover would be inaugurated soon.

The city government proposed sites for construction of steel flyovers include: Mehmoodabad intersection near Sharea Faisal, Sarwar Shaheed Road intersection near Regent Plaza Hotel, Mehran Hotel intersection, Metropole Hotel intersection, Jinnah Avenue Intersection near the airport, Malir City railway crossing Intersection, I.I. Chundrigar Road (connecting Mai Kolachi and Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan roads), Altaf Hussain Barelvi road near Liaquatabad Dak-khana, Nawab Siddiqui Ali Khan Road (first chowrangi), M.A. Jinnah Raod near the KMC head office intersection, Zaibunissa Street and Preedy Street Saddar intersection, Banaras Chowk, Manghopir Road intersection, Lasbella Chowk intersection, Dawood Chowrangi Quaidabad intersection, Malir Kalaboard intersection, Aga Khan III Road, M.A. Jinnah Road intersection, Sea Breeze Plaza near Capri Cinema intersection, Gurumandir intersection near Mazar-i-Quaid, Teen Hatti intersection, Shaheen Complex intersection on Dr Ziauddin Road, Ayesha Manzil intersection, Waterpump Chowrangi, Bolton Market intersection, Future Colony Intersection 8000 Korangi Road, and Lee Market Chowk intersection.

ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE: The city nazim, Niamatullah Khan, on Saturday inaugurated an anti-corruption awareness campaign, organized jointly by the Education Department of the city government and the Transparency International at the Quaid-i-Azam mausoleum.

The inaugural ceremony took place with a short walk in which students and teachers representing about 400 schools participated.

Mr Niamat, EDO Aijaz Ali Khan, the executive director of Transparency International, Pakistan, Shaukat Omari, and the Managing Trustee, Nooruddin Ahmed, spoke a few words of encouragement to raise the spirits of the participating children.

The campaign is aimed at igniting a realization against corruption among children to ensure ethically strong and socially responsible citizens of the future, motivating young people to recognize the problems pertaining to corruption, which students experience personally, and encouraging them to take initiatives within their communities.

The drive has been divided into two phases. Phase-1, which includes painting, essay writing and declamation contests, will be held between Feb 1 and April 30. And, Phase-2, including stage dramas, walk a cause and a festival week, would be held between Sep 1 and mid Dec. — PPI