Pass half empty: Dig it up, let it be, leave the citizens in misery

Construction work on the Nazimabad underpass at a standstill for last four months

KARACHI:

The make-shift site offices are padlocked. The iron rods sticking out of the semi-constructed underpass gather rust. The machinery gathers dust. The Sindh government shows no interest in finishing what it started - the half-built Nazimabad underpass at Golimar Chowrangi lies abandoned. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), which was supposed to be constructing the underpass, appears clueless.

A lack of coordination and bureaucratic red tape had already brought work on the underpass to a complete halt around four months ago. At the time, the blame was placed on the federal government's Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project - a scheme that is still on paper.

Initially, a flyover was to be constructed at Golimar Chowrangi. At the eleventh hour, however, all the drawings were changed and the flyover was converted into an underpass to facilitate the Green Line BRT that is also supposed to pass through Golimar Chowrangi.



The lone guard deployed by the KMC at the construction site told The Express Tribune that no KMC official has ventured to the site for the last four months. "I am stationed here to look after the machinery and the iron to be used in the construction," he said.

Blame game

The KMC's director for technical services, Niaz Ahmed Somro, refused to comment on the matter. The newly-appointed project director of the underpass, Noorullah Shaikh, said he was only given the charge last week. As far as he knows, the Sindh government has yet to approve the revised PC-1 of the project.

Meanwhile, the provincial minister for local government, Jam Khan Shoro, said that the planning and development department has some reservations with regards to the technicalities of the underpass. He assured that the issue will soon be resolved, but failed to give a time frame.



Business suffers

The city's largest sanitary and hardware market, which is located on the same road, has been suffering the most. Gulbahar Traders Association's former president, Muhammad Amin, told The Express Tribune that their business had completely collapsed due to the construction work. He said that the supply of goods to the shops had also been adversely affected. "We have no space for parking and buyers are reluctant to make their way to the shops," he said.

Residents irked

Residents of Nazimabad find it extremely difficult to cross the Golimar intersection. A resident of Nazimabad No. 10, Huda Talib, told The Express Tribune that traffic becomes a nightmare during peak hours. She said that she remains stuck for hours at the site of construction, which according to her has been at a complete halt since June.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2015.