A 29-foot-tall watchtower has been built at Sea View for the safety of beachgoers and adventurous swimmers. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS
Within the next 45 days, Sea View will have four watchtowers for the safety of beachgoers and adventurous swimmers.
The project will be inaugurated today by the commissioner, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui. One of the watchtowers, which is 29 feet tall, has already been built at the site where more than 40 people drowned during the Eid holidays last year.
The tragic incident forced the authorities to resort to the only solution at their disposal: shut down the beach to the public. Three months later, the beach was reopened but without any foolproof security measures that the authorities had promised in the aftermath of the drowning.
The commissioner office's project director, Syed Shakib Ali, claimed they had planned these watchtowers much earlier. "The construction began last month but we were waiting for one of the towers to be completed before inaugurating the project," he said.
Since the project is sponsored by an NGO, Citizens Council for Human Rights (CCHR), the commissioner wanted them to build one complete tower to prove their commitment, he added.
"The next three watch towers will be constructed on the shore between Bilawal House Chowrangi and Dolmen Mall," he said, adding that the area is approximately three kilometres long. "These towers should be completed in the next 45 days," added Ali.
Aftab Alam Babar, a CCHR member, said they contacted the commissioner soon after the drowning on Sea View to let them build watchtowers. "We want to establish an emergency response centre with complete medical facilities and deploy life guards, rescue volunteers, etc," he said.
"Emergency boats, loudspeakers, life jackets and a trained rescue team will be available to respond to emergencies even in the deep sea," he added. Babar estimated they will achieve all these targets within 180 days.
Since CCHR is the main sponsor, their advertisements will be visible on the watchtowers, an emergency response centre and the uniforms of the life guards. They hope to use the money from these ads to pay the salaries of the lifeguards and maintain the centre.
This particular stretch of the beach where the watchtowers are being built falls under the jurisdiction of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation. This means that the busiest part of Sea View, which is from McDonalds to Do Darya and falls under the jurisdiction of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA), is likely to remain without any safety arrangements.
For their part, the DHA authorities claimed they have several beautification and safety projects for the beach in the pipeline. "The DHA steering committee already approved an uplifting plan for Sea View," said the spokesperson, adding they will inform the residents when the project is launched.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2014.
COMMENTS (2)
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Thank you! Very good built design! Height is fine for searching far and wide! Just keep it manned and protected from destructive persons. We still have people in own culture who destroy and vandalize structures & devices that's for their own safety. The maintenance team if keep it painted and watched there is less chance that happens. abandoned properties are more vulnerable to such destruction. Visible & White is the international color of such structures though.
It is good efforts for public safety but the height of the watch tower is equivalent to karachi prison watch towers, it will delays the response time from guards.