Contract not extended: Lyari Resettlement Project gets new director

KARACHI:

The Sindh government has appointed the district officer for revenue enforcement, Salman Faridi, as the new director of the Lyari Expressway Resettlement Project (LERP) in a move that has raised many eyebrows.

Up till now, LERP was headed by Shafeeq Paracha, a former commissioner of Karachi. He was director since the project started in 2004 and his contract expired in August. The government did not renew it.

“We all know what will happen now,” said a senior LERP official who requested not to be named. “Paracha has been holding back the allotment of plots in resettlement schemes for two years despite a lot of political pressure.”

LERP is responsible for the affairs of Taiser Town, Baldia Town and Hawksbay schemes which formed the land set aside for people who were displaced by the construction of the Lyari Expressway.

The resettlement project should have been completed by now but some encroachments in way of the expressway have yet to be removed.

LERP officials have been critical of the government for its inability to release funds for the resettlement colonies, where schools, dispensaries and utility services have been shut for 16 months. It has not paid the salaries of teachers, gardeners, sweepers or the the water bills which come to about Rs3.7 billion. Since the project is not complete, the municipal departments of the city government of Karachi have refused to take the responsibility of running the schools and hospitals or provide water and sewerage services. Paracha declined to comment on the matter, saying it was the government’s decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2011.