You win some, you lose some: KMC to dismantle AO Clock Tower in North Nazimabad

Decision taken as tower lies on route of Green Line BRT.

KARACHI: For the construction of Green Line Bus Rapid Transport (BRT), the AO Clock Tower situated in North Nazimabad will soon be dismantled because it lies in the way of the bus service route.

However, it has been decided that the clock will be re-built in a nearby location. The clock tower, which is located right before the Nazimabad flyover near Board office, was built in 2009 by late Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, who was a famous orthopaedic surgeon and has also been part of a political party. Dr Shah ran the AO Clinic in Nazimabad for the last 30 years, which is now being run by his family.

The Green Line BRT project, inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on February 26 this year, is expected to be completed by April 2017. According to Karachi Metropolitan Corporation spokesperson Hasan, the clock tower has to be dismantled because it is in the public’s interest. He said that the credit for making this clock tower goes to Dr Shah but no one should raise any issue over dismantling it because it has no historical value and is not a heritage site.



Karachi Infrastructure Development Company Limited (KIDCL), responsible for the construction of the project, confirmed that the clock tower will be dismantled. However, the KIDCL chief-financial officer Bilal Memon claimed they will also relocate it by building another clock tower nearby similar to this one. He said that they do not yet know the estimated cost of re-building the tower, but he expects it won’t be very expensive. The decision to take down this tower was taken at Governor House around two months ago, he added.

Dr Junaid Ali Shah, son of Dr Shah, told The Express Tribune that they could have easily argued with the government’s decision of dismantling the tower that is associated with his father. However, he added that the clock tower is of no use and Dr Shah’s family has agreed with the government’s decision of taking it down for the public’s benefit. Dr Junaid added that the family had told the then Karachi commissioner, Shoaib Siddiqui, that they will rebuild this tower since it reminds them of their father’s services for the nation. He added that they have already taken down the clock of the tower to rebuild it at a nearby location.



“Shah Sahab was very passionate to build this clock tower. I remember Shah said that he wants to give Central district a land mark and then he decided to build this clock tower in 2009,”said former Karachi commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2016.