Malir 15 Flyover finally completed after five years

Mayor inaugurates long-awaited flyover, says Rs95m has been spent on it

KARACHI: Mayor Wasim Akhtar inaugurated the Malir 15 Flyover almost five-and-a-half years after its construction started.

The final portion of the much anticipated flyover, a ramp going towards Azeempura, was inaugurated on Wednesday. Also present at the ceremony were Korangi District Municipal Corporation Chairman Syed Nayyar Raza and other officials concerned.

According to Akhtar, Rs95 million has been spent on the flyover’s construction over the course of the past five-and-a-half years. He explained that the ramp is a 130 metre long and 7.55m wide carriageway.

Speaking about future development works, the mayor said that along with completing construction according to schedule, standards must also be maintained.

“The opening of this ramp of the bridge will facilitate the residents of Azeempura and its surrounding areas,” he said. He announced that to facilitate residents of Karachi, two pedestrian bridges will also be constructed on the N-5 Highway

The flyover, which is believed to have been jinxed, was partially inaugurated by former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah and MNA Faryal Talpur in 2016. The portion of the flyover between the Malir 15 bus stop and Millat Bakery was inaugurated after missing numerous deadlines in the past.

 

 

During the inauguration, Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro had announced that the flyover’s portion from Quaidabad to Azeempura, which expands over the Pakistan Railway tracks, was to be completed by June, 2016.

After missing numerous deadlines, the flyover has now finally been completed.

The roads surrounding the flyover remained damaged throughout the construction process whereas businesses in the area incurred heavy losses.

“The construction of this flyover for the past several years has adversely affected our businesses,” the owner of Neo MashaAllah Paint Shop, adjacent to the flyover, told The Express Tribune. “Look at the condition of the road. Customers can’t make their way to our shops anymore.”

Reasons for delay

The said portion of the flyover has been constructed over the land of the Pakistan Railways for which the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was supposed to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Railways’ Lahore office.

Separately, there were five residential quarters of the Railways that had to be demolished. On the other hand, the divisional superintendent of Pakistan Railways in Karachi, Nisar Ahmed Memon, confirmed that they had issued a NOC a long time back.

Speaking about the delay in the construction, KMC’s engineer on site, Syed Ishrat Rehan, told The Express Tribune that an illegally constructed mosque and a NOC from the Pakistan Railways were the main reasons behind the delay.

He explained that it took them a long time to negotiate with the mosque’s management to allow the authorities to demolish it so it could be relocated.