The delay has been attributed to unforeseen complications and lack of information needed for planning.
Once the project — an important part of the Khushhal Pakistan Programme’s phase three — is complete the motorists on Jehangir Road wishing to drive towards the Numaish Roundabout will get direct access to the M.A. Jinnah Road, bringing instant relief to about half the people who regularly drive through the busy intersection.
The motorists approaching the intersection from the Numaish Roundabout side, on the other hand, will have to contend with two traffic signals. But the Traffic Engineering Bureau is going to make use of a system that ensures that a person who stops at one traffic signal doesn’t stop for too long at the other one, according to some officials.
The motorists on the Jamshed Road wishing to drive towards Soldier Bazaar will have to contend with only one traffic signal. Similarly, the people on the M.A. Jinnah Road desirous of going to the Business Recorder Road will have one traffic signal to deal with.
When it was in the planning stage, in the officials’ eyes the most important, and also the most difficult, part of the project was the construction of the link road which could ensure the non-stop flow of traffic from Jehangir Road to M.A. Jinnah Road. This road links the Jehangir Road with Jamshed Road.
However, when construction work was commenced, the whole project opened up like a Pandora’s Box, throwing up one tricky problem after another. The difficulty posed by the construction of the link road between Jamshed Road and Jehangir Road soon paled in comparison to that of these new and unforeseen problems.
The most important of the unforeseen problems was the unearthing of some stormwater drains which were absent from the maps available during the planning stages. These drains need to be rebuilt because if they weren’t they could overflow at anytime in future, causing innumerable problems.
That’s why both the Business Recorder Road and the Jehangir Road, which were to remain largely untouched during the project, had to be dug up, Shafiqur Rahman Paracha — the project director of Khushhal Pakistan Programme — told Dawn.
He claimed that during the Khushhal Pakistan Programme certain problems had been resolved which had remained unresolved for decades. “For instance, the Patel Para area had no sewage system at all,” he said.
“When work was undertaken during the Khushhal Pakistan Programme we came to know of this. Now this problem has been solved. The dug-up business Recorder Road is testament to this.”
The DCO of Karachi said one major reason for delay in this project, as in all projects, is the lack of coordination between the various civic agencies. He expressed the hope that with the inception of the city government this problem would be resolved.
He told Dawn the total cost of the civil works was Rs27million. The electrical work would cost Rs6million while the traffic signals would cost Rs2million more.
S.M. Taha, the project engineer of the Gurumandir Improvement Plan, told Dawn that he and his colleagues had to contend with so many unforeseen problems that he had lost count. “Once we dug up the roads, we unearthed gas lines, water lines, even an optical fibre cable,” he said.
“All these must be taken care of. We simply cannot make short work of these.” He bemoaned the absence of maps that showed all the pipelines, cables etc lying beneath an area that was earmarked for developmental work.
Mr Taha said the shifting of electrical poles and distribution boards belonging to both the KESC and the PTCL were also posing difficulties to him and his colleagues.
He said work on the project had been going on almost non-stop.
“At times we have worked round the clock. But as you can see for yourself, the project is massive in terms of the difficulties encountered. Besides, the work is spread over two to three kilometres.”
One of his colleagues, Irfan Ahmed, said during the project a total of 130 trees had been shifted. “The number of big trees alone is 80. These trees will be erected elsewhere.”
Tariq Aziz and Rizwan Afzal said 80 per cent of the work on the footpaths had already been done. Similarly, 70 per cent of the work on stormwater drains was complete.
Meanwhile, according to the site engineers, one problem which could delay the completion of the project involved a shop. “This is a disputed shop. The matter is pending in the High Court.”
This shop — part of a KMC bus stop — initially housed a canteen. Later on it was turned into a tyre shop. It’s situated right on the portion which is being added to the M.A. Jinnah Road.
“Until this problem is solved, the motorists will not be able to make full use of the M.A. Jinnah Road,” said Mr Taha.
The site engineers told Dawn that the issue would come up for hearing in the court during the first half of December. “Hopefully, the issue will be resolved during this hearing,” said Mr Taha.
“If it’s not, our project could suffer more delays.”