Road to Bilawal House will take 2 months to complete

The city district government has given the contract to an outsider to build the road.

KARACHI:

The road between Boat Basin and BBQ Tonight has been dug up because the city government is rebuilding it on international standards and the work is expected to take two months.

The city government has awarded a contract worth Rs80 million for the construction of a kilometre-long stretch between Bilawal roundabout and Boat Basin. Since this road has frequent VIP movement to and from the president’s house, the City District Government Karachi’s works and services department hired the services of a consultant to ensure high quality.

Works and Services EDO Engineer A Rasheed Mughal told The Express Tribune that the road is dug up so that it could be reconstructed using modern technology and special construction material.

He added that the road would take at least two months to complete because they have yet to deal with the seepage of sewage and underground water. The road is also used by heavy traffic, especially oil tankers and trailers, which cause the already weak road to sink.

The city government has curtailed all development works due to the financial crunch but this project has not been affected so far.

Bilawal House

One of the two roads in front of Bilawal House was already closed for traffic due to “security”. But now the other road, which was being used for both sides of traffic, is now dug up as well - the whole stretch from Bilawal Chowrangi till a little before the Clifton Beach. One can infer that this will be the latter half of the VIP-movement road.

It doesn’t end here. The footpath in front of Bilawal House first had a net of barbed wire and now there are tall iron grilles ‘protecting’ it.

According to real estate agents, the price of the surrounding buildings has also gone down.

The demand of the nearby residential apartments, especially those in front of Bilawal House, has considerably decreased, one real estate agent told The Express Tribune. “The traffic, security concerns and the jiyalas that came for meetings to Bilawal House have made people not want houses here. They do not think these apartments are suitable for their families.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2011.