KARACHI, Nov 20: The progress in construction of Lyari Expressway was reviewed in detail at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Federal Communication Minister Shamim Ahmed Siddiqi here on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by Sindh Chief Secretary Aslam Sanjrani, National Highway Authority's chairman Maj Gen Farukh Javed and FWO Director-General Shahid Niaz.
The pace of construction of the expressway, availability of right of way and problems therein, provision of facilities for resettlement of shiftees and opening of completed portion of the Northern Bypass also came under consideration at the meeting.
The NHA chairman informed the meeting that after availability of right of way for the construction of bridges, the basic structure was being expeditiously completed.
He said that the work was progressing fast in respect of earth laying for the road as per report of technical experts about the quality and characteristic of the land made available under the right of way.
FWO chief Shahid Niaz gave a detailed briefing regarding project's technical aspects with the help of charts. On the directive of President Musharraf, he said that the principle of shifting least possible number of people and construction of better quality road was being adopted.
Shahid Niaz said that efforts were being made to complete the work phase wise in the light of president's directive.
The chief secretary said that all the departments had been asked to bring any problem, which came in their way, before the chief secretary's meeting on fortnightly basis so that the same could be sorted out with the cooperation of departments concerned. He said that the fortnightly meeting was being held to ensure timely completion of the project.
Federal Minister Shamim Siddiqi directed all the departments to strive hard to complete the project in minimum possible time through mutual cooperation. He asked the provincial and city governments to ensure improvement in the pace of availability of the right of way.
Besides, he said that the NHA and the FWO should start construction work on the right of way made available to them and necessary homework must be completed before hand.
The minister told the meeting that he would review the pace of work after every two weeks by driving through the right of way attained. The meeting was attended byProject Director Mohammed Yusuf Barakzai, Brig Anwar of FWO, LERP Project Director Shariqur Rehman Paracha, and EDO Mohammed Waseem.-APP