Quick to tear, slow to repair

The Sindh High Court (SHC) order for the provincial government to make University Road in Karachi fully operational within two months is a much-overdue push to reopen a critical artery that had been reduced to a cratered, dust-choked corridor of misery on the grounds of development work. Unfortunately, even the court's direction may not be enough to get the road fully operational, as repaving it is only one part of the problem.

The road was excavated for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line in 2022, with a 30-month completion target that should have seen it finished by June 2024. Instead, the project has stalled terribly amid a cascade of financial disputes, contract terminations, redesigns and utility relocation delays. A portion of the project referred to as Lot 2 has been the epicentre of chaos, with contractors withdrawing and the Sindh government belatedly scrambling to engage the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) to revive the work. Only last month, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was forced to apologise to citizens and promise to restore mixed-traffic lanes in 90 days. The court has shortened and formalised that deadline, narrowing that window to just 60.

The fact that additional funding will supposedly be made available and the FWO has already started some work are positive developments that could help the government realistically pursue the deadline. But the court's conditions could also be counterproductive - the work is to be completed without disrupting traffic flow, which reduces the amount of work that can be done on any given day, and can adversely affect work quality. It is also worth noting that BRT work is expected to continue for at least another 18 months, meaning that even a repaired University Road will still be subject to unusually high wear and tear.

Ultimately, the deadline is not impossible, but it is going to require levels of government coordination efficiency that are almost unimaginable in Pakistan.