Ending the wait? : Numaish Chowrangi overpass to reopen by end of August

Construction was further delayed because of Eidul Azha, heavy rains; work to continue till December

KARACHI:

The federal government has almost completed the roofing work of the Numaish Chowrangi underpass and it has been learned that the overpass will formally be inaugurated and opened for traffic by the end of August.

Lane marking has not been done on either side of the road but people have already started driving through the overpass unofficially. According to engineers working on the project, who belong to the federal government’s Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL), lane-marking work will start in the next few days because of which both the tracks will be completely closed for traffic.

One of the project engineers told The Express Tribune that due to the spread of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown in the city, the construction work of the Numaish Chowrangi underpass and its roof had to be halted on March 22.

“The roofing work of the underpass is almost complete while the construction of the underpass is 65 per cent done,” the engineer said. “Due to the lockdown policy of the federal government and the Sindh government, the work here had to be been stopped for about two-and-a-half months.”

He said that the development work, which resumed in June, was still going on and after a long wait, the construction of the roof and the overpass had finally reached its final stages.

“As most of the workers had gone to their native villages and cities to celebrate Eidul Azha, the development work was affected for a few days,” one of the engineers said. “The workers are now back, and they have resumed their jobs.”

The engineer added that the development work was also halted because of the heavy downpour in Karachi, which forced them to temporarily stop the construction work.

Other engineers also said that the carpeting on both sides of the road had been completed and the overpass has unofficially opened for traffic for the convenience of the citizens.

They added that lane-marking, erection of traffic signs and signals, and the construction of the service road near Imambargah Ali Raza were yet to be completed. On the other hand, lane-marking from Gurumandir Chowrangi to Numaish Chowrangi has been completed but was still required to be done from Numaish Chowrangi onwards.

According to the engineers, once the lane-marking began, the road would be closed for traffic again.

“We had plans to officially open the Numaish Chowrani overpass on August 14. However, this was not possible due to the rains,” the engineer said. “For marking the lanes, the road must be completely dry. Even after that, at least three days are required to protect it from water.”

The engineer said that the roofing work of the Numaish Chowrangi underpass would be completed by the end of August, after which a formal inauguration will be carried out.

“Even after opening the overpass, construction work of the underpass will have to be continued and it will take four more months to complete. Therefore, the entire construction work will hopefully be finished by December.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2020.