Bunder wall repairs: 1,500 flats to lure residents away from riverbank

Senator says repairs and construction of flats will start by April 25.

SUKKUR:

A committee of traders and Sukkur residents has been formed to persuade people living in the Kaccha Bunder or riverbank strips to vacate  and move to safer ground, said Pakistan Peoples Party senator and member of the central executive committee Islamuddin Shaikh.

Over the years people started living in the soft riverbank land along the River Indus that flows past Sukkur. The problem is that the encroachments obstruct the flow and are dangerous for the families who live there.

The government will start repairing the flood-damaged Bunder wall that protects the city from the river by April 25 and 1,500 flats would be constructed for the residents of the kaccha areas. Shaikh announced this at a press conference at his residence, Sukkur House, on Tuesday afternoon.

The flats will be built on an eight-acre plot bought near Numaish ground, Old Sukkur. These flats would be offered free of charge to people who can prove there are residents of the Kaccha Bunder by showing their utility bills and other documents.

Shaikh said that they have completed the surveys required before the repairs could begin. Now the actual rehabilitation would start, in which all encroachments within 10 feet of the either side of the wall would be removed “without any discrimination”.

“We cannot endanger all of Sukkur because of a few thousand residents in the kaccha areas,” he pointed out, adding that these people needed to move for the “greater good”.

Some people are trying to politicise the issue and are trying to brainwash the residents into demanding a place at the Manzil Gah ground or at the old railway godown. But there is not enough space at either of these places for a big housing scheme, which is why we have decided to build the flats near Numaish ground, said Shaikh. “There is enough space there for shopping plazas as well,” he added.

Islamuddin recalled the time when he was the mayor of Sukkur and had to relocate the wholesale date and vegetable markets and a truck stand out of the city. “Though we faced some resistance from the traders and salesmen at that time, those people are now doing quite well because the plots that they bought for a few thousand rupees are now worth millions.”

Replying to a question about removing shops, godowns and mosques constructed right next to the Bunder wall, he said shopkeepers and godown owners will have to vacate voluntarily. No compensation would be offered to them.

As far as mosques are concerned, there is only one mosque there and they would decide what to do about it after reaching consensus, Shaikh said.

Meeting on April 22

A meeting to discuss the repairs of Bunder wall and the flats will be held in Karachi on April 22, after which work on both projects would be started. Sukkur DCO has been made the project director, while federal and provincial governments would provide the funding.

The flats would cost Rs800 million to build and Bunder Wall repairs would cost Rs140 million. In case of any emergency, the residents in the kacccha areas would be moved to schools since the schools would be closed for the summer holidays.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 20^th,  2011.