‘New Korangi bridge on cards’

Jam Sadiq Bridge beyond repairs, says Sindh Mass Transit Authority MD

KARACHI:

Government is considering building a new bridge in place of Jam Sadiq Bridge, a major link between the city centre and the Korangi Industrial Area (KIA), Sindh Mass Transit Authority Managing Director Altaf Hussain Sario said on Thursday.

The bridge has to bear the load of hundreds of trucks carrying containers to and from the port to the city's largest industrial area.

Repairing a bridge that has been repaired multiple times over a period of 30 years will be a waste of resources, Sairo said while expressing his views at Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI).

Planning under way for construction of a new bridge in Korangi, he said talking to the industrial and trading community of KIA.

He said that Jam Sadiq Bridge has been repaired several times during the last 30 years, but bridge still needs to be repaired. "International construction experts inspected Jam Sadiq Bridge a few years ago and declared it a dilapidated structure that will expire in less than seven years," Sario told the industrialists and traders.

He said that in view of the report of the international experts, work will be started by closing the bridge instead of taking any risk. He said that condition of the bridge is so dilapidated that an option of demolishing it completely and constructing a new bridge was also under consideration.

However, repair of the bridge has been approved in the project concept (PC-1). The repair of the bridge is estimated to cost $9m, completed in 18 months, while the construction of the new bridge is estimated at $28m. He said, work will be completed through a joint committee by incorporating all suggestions of KATI.

Earlier, KATI President Farazur Rehman said that Karachi is the economic hub of the country and the city has immense transport problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2022.