SHC seeks progress report on University Road construction

Deadline given to local govt secretary to submit report by March 21

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed on Thursday the provincial local government secretary to submit a report on progress in construction work on the University Road by March 21.

Headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, a division bench further directed the secretary to ensure such progress reports are filed to the court on a regular basis.

The secretary, who had personally appeared along with the provincial law officer, gave an undertaking to comply with the court's directives.



The matter was taken up in the court by a citizen, Rizwan Rafi, who had taken the Karachi commissioner, East deputy commissioner and Karachi traffic DIG to the court.

In his plea, Rafi had submitted that the city's busiest thoroughfare had been in a dilapidated state for the last many years but the provincial authorities concerned had failed to ensure its maintenance.

He said finally the authorities awarded the contract for construction of the road to a private construction company, which was neither reputable nor qualified. He alleged that the contract award proceedings were kept secret.



The petitioner had contended that the private firm had also failed to ensure timely completion of both the tracks of University Road and work was being carried out at snail's pace, due to which commuters were facing difficulties.

Rafi contended that due to the slow pace of work, traffic-related accidents on the under-construction road were taking place frequently. He said five people, including four university students, had been killed in recent incidents.

According to his lawyer, Umar Lakhani, there was no standard to check the quality of the material being used in the construction work, which would amount to wastage of public money.



The court was pleaded to order the relevant authorities to ensure quality testing of the construction work through the Pakistan Engineering Council.

During the previous hearing, the court had ordered the local government secretary to submit a report reflecting the day-to-day progress of the project from the day of its commencement.