Sindh govt launches Malir Expressway

Completion of 38.5km thoroughfare expected within two and a half years

After much talk to improve the transport system in the city and get rid of traffic congestion at the motorway, the Sindh government laid the foundation stone of the Malir Expressway on Thursday. Flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other provincial ministers and officials, the Pakistan Peoples Party Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurated the largest project launched by the PPP-led Sindh government.

The Malir Expressway project is at the estimated cost of Rs28 billion and is to be completed under the public private partnership model.

In the first phase - stated to last around one and a half years - the path from Korangi Road and Quaidabad is to be completed. The entire project is scheduled for completion within two and a half years, connecting the city from Qayyumabad to the M9 Motorway. Based on the initial plan, the provincial government has invested Rs4 billion and the remaining amount will come via a bank loan.

“It will be a state-of-the-art expressway. It will not only resolve traffic congestion issues but will add to the aesthetics of the city,” said the CM.

Elaborating further, Shah said that the Malir Expressway is to be 38.5 kilometres-long and its width will be 30.9 metres. The expressway will have six interchanges and six lanes as well as five bridges and five weigh bridges, according to the CM. Besides, the project will have 63 culverts and one underpass, Shah told.

With meagre financial resources the government cannot launch mega projects, and hence, the public private partnership mode is the easiest way for development works in the province, stated Shah.

According to the CM, the Sindh government’s public private partnership unit has been lauded and deemed comparable with other countries across the globe. “We [Sindh public private partnership unit] have been ranked at number six while Pakistan ranks at number 12,” he said, maintaining that this was an indication of success of his government’s policies.

The CM also elaborated on other projects launched under the public private partnership mode by his provincial government. He referred to the Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road constructed under the same model and said that the provincial government had spent hardly a few million on it. “Now the entire loan has been repaid and the project is earning money,” he said.

Similarly, according to Shah, the provincial government has constructed the longest bridge on the right bank of Indus River, Jhirk Mulla Katiar, on the same public private partnership mode and the project has been running smoothly, and the Karachi-Thatta dual carriageway.

Along with other development projects, Shah also mentioned the Khandkot-Ghotki Bridge is under construction on Indus River and has been launched at an estimated cost of Rs7 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2020.