A multi-billion-rupee
road project Lyari Expressway delayed for its construction because of the many
rooted problems which usually became hindrances in such type of beneficial
initiatives of the administration. Approximately 16 million vehicles per annum
are expected to utilise the facility. The project was initiated in May 2002
with a PC-1 of Rs 6 billion and was expected to be completed by November 2004.
However the project cost was revised several times and now it is expected to be
completed by December 2013 at a cost of over Rs 12 billion. The reasons of its
delay includes the card game of stakeholders of Karachi, the hindrances in
acquisition of land for construction of Lyari Expressway and the corruption in payment
of compensation to the locals of that area.
The stakeholders
include PPP, MQM and ANP are all trying to get the master plan of the
expressway amended so that it does not affect their activists and supporters. But
the most disastrous condition is that because of the delay in the acquisition
of land for the Lyari Expressway the project cost has pushed up to Rs 12
billion against the original estimated cost of Rs 5.1 billion, sources in the Ministry
of Communications. And Accepting the demands of all these parties would not only
further add to the cost of an already expensive project, it would also be
impractical.
The Sindh High Court bench, headed by Justice
Maqbool Baqir had ordered the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and Lyari
Expressway Rehabilitation Project (LERP) officers to immediately pay
compensation to “all those, whose land was acquired for the project, but
compensation was not paid.” After receiving complaints from the locals the
judges warned of stern action against anyone found involved in demanding
bribes to issue compensation.
While that National
Highway Authority (NHA) officials attributed the delay in land acquisition and
financial constraints as main reasons for the delay in the completion of the
project. Currently the project required Rs 3.2 billion for completion by the
end of 2013, officials maintained.
