Commissioner irked by delay in Karachi flyover project

It will connect Kotri taluka and Kotri SITE area with the M9 Motorway and Jamshoro town through the Indus highway

HYDERABAD: The delay in completion of the Rs1.27 billion flyover in Kotri, Jamshoro district, has dismayed Hyderabad Commissioner Ghulam Abbass Baloch. The commissioner, who visited the project on Thursday, tacitly warned the department executing the project that it may have to bear the additional cost caused by the delay.

“Owing to incapacity of some government departments, development projects are being inordinately stalled,” he observed. “Such delays not only create problems for the people for whom these projects are designed but they also result in increasing cost of the project due to the rising price of construction materials,” he added.

Baloch warned that the procrastination will not be tolerated and that the government department found responsible for the delay will be made to bear the additional cost of the project. The construction of the 1.35 kilometre long flyover began in August 2016. It was scheduled to be completed by June 2017.

However, more than 16 months have passed since the deadline, with the project still in the final stages. The flyover will connect Kotri taluka and Kotri SITE area with the M9 Motorway and Jamshoro town through the Indus highway. Currently a railway crossing on the Indus highway results in traffic logjams throughout the day.

Works and Services Department Superintending Engineer Ghulam Shabbir Memon claimed that the railway crossing, removal of electricity poles, underground gas and water supply lines as well as encroachments impeded the project’s timely execution. Memon said the bridge is almost complete and will soon be opened for the traffic.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2018.