Path to development: Landowners in Qambar-Shahdadkot and Larkana sue govt

Deputy commissioners directed to expedite process of land acquisition, ensure that court cases progress without delay.

HYDERABAD:

Acquiring enough land is delaying the progress of building of the 200-kilometre-long Sehwan-Ratodero Road, said the deputy commissioners of Larkana and Qambar- Shahdadkot districts.

They were briefing a meeting on Friday which was attended by the district administrations of Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, and Qambar-Shahdadkot, and officials of National Highway Authority (NHA) and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

The deputy commissioners said that the construction of the two-lane road, being built at an estimated cost of Rs16 billion, is scheduled to be completed by December 2014, a year later than its earlier deadline. It is being built by the FWO and will pass through four districts.

According to NHA’s director-general of this project, Syed Shabir Ali Shah, five new bypasses will be built and four old ones will be renovated. So far, 360 acres of land had been bought in Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana and Qamabar-Shahdadkot districts at a cost of Rs487 million.

However, the government had been sued by the landowners Larkana and Qambar- Shahdadkot, said Larkana Divisional Commissioner Dr Saeed Ahmed and Kambar Shahdadkot Deputy Commissioner Agha Abdul Raheem.

Director-general of monitoring, planning and development department, Sabhago Khan Jatoi, asked the deputy commissioners to expedite the process of land acquisition and ensure that the court cases progress without delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2012.