The Phase II of the KPP was launched under the supervision of the Karachi administration. As the commissionarate system has ceased to function, the projects are being completed under the supervision of army monitoring teams, town municipal officers and the district coordination officer (DCO).
In the four towns of the defunct district Central, the KPP projects included the repair or construction of roads where necessary, reducing the roundabout and installation of signals were imperative or where the road was not ever built, sources associated with the KPP said.
They said the asphalt plant of the defunct DMC Central was used in the carpeting of the roads and almost all roads were made by machine carpeting. They said as the asphalt plant was used by the defunct DMC, the contractor, who was bound to use DMC’s asphalt plant, had paid Rs160,000 as its rent to the government.
The projects include the improvement of the Secondary Board Office roundabout and installation of traffic signals; repair of internal roads in Block-I, construction of new roads in federal B. industrial area; improvement of the Water Pump roundabout in Federal B. area and installation of traffic signals and construction of new roads along storm water drain in the New Karachi Industrial area.
During a visit to different areas, Dawn interviewed a number of people in residential areas, including North Nazimabad Block-I, and KBR Society in Buffer Zone, who expressed satisfaction over the construction of roads in their respective areas.
The dwellers of KBR Society said no government in the past had ever built roads in their area. The present government had given importance to them and built metalled roads, which had given satisfaction to the residents.
The sources said KBR Society was a thickly-populated area of lower-middle class, where 52 streets, including a seven-kilometre-long main road had been constructed for the first time at a cost of Rs6.63 million.
However, the newly constructed road adjacent to the Sir Syed police station was dug up and damaged reportedly by the police officials as they feared that the smooth road could facilitate terrorists to flee without any obstacle after having carried out an attack on the police station.
Under the KPP, the roundabout at the Secondary Board Office was also reduced and traffic signals were installed to manage the traffic flow. Before the reduction of the roundabout, the traffic passed through in a haphazard manner and caused jams during the rush hour. The roundabout was reduced, 16 traffic signals were installed, footpaths and a road was built at a cost of Rs11.1 million.
Similarly, traffic jams were also witnessed at the Water Pump intersection in Federal B. Area, where 23 traffic signals were installed, footpaths and road were built at a cost of Rs11.5 million. The installation of traffic signals not only managed the vehicular traffic movement but also reduced the possibility of road accidents in these areas.
Following improvement at the intersection at Water Pump, the road looks different from the one leading to the Gulberg roundabout and onward as the Karachi water and Sewerage Board had dug up the road to lay a 48-inch diameter pipeline to provide water to the residents of the defunct district West. The construction of the road is being continuously delayed for unknown reasons which was included in PC-1 and was to be built by the KWSB, for which the administration of the defunct district Central had already made payment to the KWSB.
In New Karachi Industrial Area, sector 6-A, the road and streets, 2.5 kilometres long, were built along with a storm water drain at a cost of Rs5.9 million. Fare face concrete walls of a storm water drain were built using steel shuttering and vibrator, aimed at diminishing the possibility of pilferage. In such walls, the plaster could not be done and the work was visible, the sources said.
Similarly, 91,000 Road in New Karachi Town and its link streets from the New Karachi police station to Saba Chowk, was completed at a cost of Rs6 million. Another road from Shafiq Mor towards New Karachi was also being built and it would be completed in a couple of weeks.
The roads and streets in Federal B. Industrial area were also constructed for the first time as there were no carpeted roads in the past there. Under the KPP, 2.33-kilometre-long roads and streets were built at a cost of Rs5.7 million along with the construction of storm water drains.
Fifteen roads and streets, 5.3 kilometres long, were also re-carpeted in Block-I at a cost of Rs5.3 million. In Kutchi Abadis of Blocks N, M, L, G and B, 4.4-kilometre-long streets were constructed at a cost of Rs3.417 million besides building 3.66-kilometre-long roads and streets at a cost of Rs6.86 million in Kutchi Abadis of Block R, Q, S and T, in North Nazimabad.
Under the KPP, the 6.47-kilometre-long roads in Gulbahar in Liaquatabad Town were built at a cost of Rs3.59 million.
A 2.56-kilometre-long road from the Sujrani Town roundabout towards Manghopir was built at a cost of Rs11.32 million, whereas extension of a non-carpeted 2.25-kilometre-long road 3,000 from Khuwaja Ajmer Nagri police station towards Manghopir was built and along it the storm water drain was erected. As the area was earlier a swampy one, the carpeting of the road could not be made before a year, the sources maintained.
The sources said as the city government was in place, the Nazims at UC level to Town level had been involved and they had been asked to submit the proposals for new projects under Phase-III of the KPP, which were being submitted in the respective town offices. They said the government had allocated Rs30 million for each town for the development work under KPP. The projects, which would be approved in Phase-III, were likely to be completed by June 30 this year, they added.