KARACHI, March 10 The city government has decided to construct an expressway on both banks of the Malir River to provide a direct access to downtown light traffic to the city's eastern industrial neighbourhoods on to the National Highway through Quaidabad.

Well-placed sources in the city government told Dawn that the Malir Expressway project had been conceived keeping in view the Lyari Expressway project which was also constructed along the banks of the Lyari River.

The federal government had provided funds to the tune of Rs8 billion for the construction of the Lyari Expressway and Rs5 billion for the resettlement of nearly 24,000 families who had been displaced due to the construction of the mega project.

However, the sources said that the city government had recently conducted a detailed study regarding the Malir Expressway project which showed that the construction of a road along both banks of the Malir River would be a far easier task as compared to the construction of an expressway on both banks of the Lyari River.

The sources said that there was no encroachment or unauthorised settlements on the banks of the Malir River and there would be no issue of compensation or resettlement. The expressway project would start from Qayyumabad and culminate at Quaidabad providing an alternate access to commuter traffic to Landhi and Korangi Industrial Areas besides reducing the traffic load on Sharea Faisal.

They said that the amount required for the construction of Malir Expressway was estimated to be Rs5 to Rs6 billion and the project would be executed under the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Karachi Mega City Development Project.

The first tranche of over $200 million from the ADB's loan is due to be received next month and after completing the required formalities including the tendering process the Malir Expressway project will be launched by the end of the current financial year or in the first quarter of the next fiscal.

The sources, however, maintained that the Malir Expressway project had nothing to do with the proposed Karachi Elevated Expressway which would be built from Jinnah Bridge at the Karachi Port and would pass over M. T. Khan Road, Club Road and Sharea Faisal to Quaidabad.

“The Karachi Elevated Expressway will provide a direct access to heavy traffic from Karachi Port to Port Qasim via National Highway,” said a senior city government official. “The Malir Expressway will be constructed only for light traffic and not for heavy traffic,” he said.

He, however, agreed that the elevated expressway was a much expensive project as compared to both the Lyari and Malir expressways. A Malaysian firm will construct the elevated expressway at an estimated cost of $350 million on a built-operate-and transfer (BOT) basis.

The sources said that the expected timeframe for the completion of the Malir Expressway project was 24 months from the day of launching of the groundwork.

The south-bound carriageway of Lyari Expressway took about six years for completion while work on the construction of the north-bound carriageway is still under way.