Encroachments on 10% of Lyari Expressway hinder progress of construction

Project launched 14 years ago to facilitate uninterrupted traffic between Sohrab Goth and Mauripur

KARACHI: Lyari Expressway is perhaps the longest delayed project of Karachi - its construction was promised in 2002. As the project continues to hit snags, blame game goes on between the provincial government and the National Highway Authority (NHA).

In 2002, the federal government promised a wide, uninterrupted Lyari Expressway to ensure uninterrupted flow of traffic from Sohrab Goth to Mauripur and back. Almost 14 years later, this dream has yet to turn into reality. Encroachments on a portion of mere 1.6 kilometres (km) of the 16.5km stretch are apparently preventing authorities from completing the project and easing the city’s traffic flow. Removing the encroachments is the only role of the Sindh government in the project.

In February this year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while inaugurating the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit, promised that the remaining work on the Lyari Expressway will be started within 15 days. Unsurprisingly, this has yet to happen.

Before the prime minister, the Sindh government constituted a committee in September, 2015, under the supervision of the then commissioner, Shoaib Siddiqui, to remove the encroachments along the route. These half-hearted efforts also failed to yield results.

Lyari Expressway is the third mega-transport project introduced in Karachi after the revival of the Karachi Circular Railway and Bus Rapid Transit system. The southbound part of the expressway, which runs from Sohrab Goth to Mauripur Road, has been completed and has been in use for traffic since 2010. However, the northbound track, which starts at Mauripur and goes all the way to Sohrab Goth, is still incomplete. The part from Mauripur to Sir Shah Suleman Road, which is around 6km, needs construction while the remaining portion has been built. Within the incomplete portion, there is a mere 1.6km where the Sindh government has yet to clear encroachments.

According to NHA’s project director for the Lyari Expressway, Javed Husain, they are just the executing body of the project. The real problem, he said, lies in the removal of encroachments, which the Sindh government is supposed to clear. He said that if they are provided with the vacated land, they will complete the project before June next year.

A major portion of District West is still under encroachment, which includes Manghopir, where they need 588 metres for the carriageway and 434 metres for the ramp. Meanwhile, he said, the construction of the project at Sindhi Hotel and Teen Hatti in District Central, which are elevated portions of the expressway, is underway. “Pilling has been done at the Teen Hatti portion,” he said.

On the other hand, NHA’s resident engineer of the project, who has recently been transferred from the post, told The Express Tribune requesting anonymity that the Sindh government is not interested in removing the encroachment. He said that had they been slightly interested, the encroachments would have been completely removed by now. The pace of removing the encroachments, he said, is extremely slow, mainly due to political reasons.

Meanwhile, District West’s deputy commissioner, Asif Jameel, denied all such allegations and said that the total encroached upon area in his district is 1.5km, out of which 1km has been cleared, adding that 580 metres is for the right of way of the Lyari Expressway while 435 metres will be for the ramp of the elevated portion of the expressway.

He said that the land acquisition proceedings for the leased units are underway. By the end of December, he assured that the entire land will be cleared of encroachments. On the other hand, District Central deputy commissioner Captain Fariduddin said that they have already cleared the encroachments in his district.

SHC ruling

In the month of June, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had directed the set of petitioners, seeking orders for the director of the Lyari Expressway Rehabilitation Project, and other federal and local government authorities to give adequate compensation to 49 families, whose land had been acquired for the project - to vacate the land in one week so that the construction could resume on the remaining portion of the highway.

By June 8, the authorities will be at liberty to take action according to the law, the division bench headed by Justice Munib Akhtar had ruled. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2016.