KARACHI, Feb 8: The City District Government Karachi is all set to get the ground broken for a mega project, a 28kms long elevated expressway along Sharea Faisal from Jinnah Bridge to Quaidabad Intersection, despite the fact an official assessment of the project’s impact under Pakistan Environmental Protection Act is still to be completed.

City government officials said that the 25-metre wide elevated expressway with three lanes on each track will have a toll-tax for 15 to 20 years and serve as a bypass and a link to the airport for the two seaports of Karachi. The project is first of its kind in the country and bringing foreign investors (IJM Corporation Berhad Malaysia) direct to a district government for a $350 million financing, they said.

Details about the financial feasibility, engineering design, nature of construction and physical structure are not available. The invitation cards regarding a ground breaking ceremony, to be held at Governor’s House, on February 9, have a computer-generated view. This shows that the expressway will be above ground level on pillars to be sunk into the middle traffic islands on Sharea Faisal.

President Pervez Musharraf is likely to perform the ground breaking of the project and construction is likely to be completed in three to four years.

The officials at the helm of city government affairs feel after completion of the proposed expressway, the city’s traffic problem will ease considerably and travelling time reduced. However, conservationists are apprehensive about the hurdles in its way, the construction of on and off ramps, pillars and other activities.

Under Pakistan’s environmental rules, Initial Environmental Examination or Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are mandatory and meant to assess the impact of a project. In developed countries, an EIA is a powerful tool to ensure development projects do not destroy the environment.

Well placed sources told DAWN that the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency had not been able to conduct any public hearing or issue any NOC or set of mitigation measures in case of public inconvenience or guidelines towards a sustainable development so far as the city government or the project financers had not responded to it adequately.

In reply to a letter, SEPA informed the parties concerned that they were required to submit at least ten copies of the EIA report pertaining to the expressway project and also meet some pre-requisites, including payment for relevant advertisement and other arrangements. A provincial environmental department official said that any grant of NOC on the subject was still pending.